MIAMI (AP) —
Aaron Nola struck out 10 and pitched scoreless ball into the ninth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Miami Marlins 4-0 Sunday for a three-game sweep.
Yairo Muñoz homered to help Philadelphia head into the All-Star break at 49-43. Even minus injured star Bryce Harper, the Phillies showed a dramatic turnaround after manager Joe Girardi was fired on June 3, going 27-14 under Rob Thomson.
“This is a confidence builder, absolutely,” Thomson said. “Obviously, momentum going into the break, rest up and then come back out firing.”
Nola (6-7) gave up four hits and walked one. He was pulled after allowing one-out singles to Joey Wendle and Brian Anderson in the ninth.
“Just stuck with my same approach and tried to make the best pitches that I could,” Nola said.
José Alvarado relieved and struck out Garrett Cooper and retired Bryan De La Cruz on a grounder for his first save. The Phillies shut out Miami in the final 25 innings of the series.
“The ninth hasn’t been my best friend the last several times I’ve been in the ninth,” Nola said. “Alvarado came in and shut the door.”
Nola extended his string of starts of at least seven innings to eight, the second-longest active streak in the major leagues behind Miami ace Sandy Alcantara, who has 13.
“He managed his pitch count extremely well, he was unbelievable,” Thomson said.
The Phillies posted their first three-game sweep in Miami since 2010.
The Marlins scored one run in the series. They have not homered in eight games, the second-longest drought in club history — Miami teams in 1993 and 2019 failed to go deep in nine straight games.
“Things look really bad when you’re not swinging the bats,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “It looks like your team has…