Phillies have Aaron Nola starting against Cardinals Miles Mikolas for Game 2 of the NL Wild Card. Bryce Harper leads off the 2nd inning with a 435-ft Home Run to put the Phillies up 1-0. The energy in the Cardinals stadium is suddenly sucked away. Alec Bohm makes an amazing catch to get Nolan Arenado out in the bottom of the 4th. Bohm is having an impressive defensive performance these past 2 games. The next inning(top 5) comes and Bohm has a ground rule double. Jean Segura gets a hit-by-pitch and Mikolas is removed from the game with a runner on first and third. Jordan Montgomery comes in for relief. Bryson Stott is walked and bases are loaded. Kyle Schwarber has a sacrifice fly to get a run in. 2-0 Phillies at the bottom of the 5th. Phillies challenge a call in the top of the 6th as Bryce Harper was called out at second. Harper seemed to have gone around the tag but the umps went back and still called him out. Bottom of the 6th, Albert Pujols gets a single for his first hit of the series, but the Cardinals were unable to get any runs through 6 innings. Aaron Nola gets pulled 2 outs into the bottom of the 7th. Great performance and playoff debut for Nola with 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, and 4 hits. José Alvarado comes in for relief. Giovanny Gallegos comes in to pitch for St. Louis in the top of the 8th. Phillies make a pitching change after a walk by Alvarado and Seranthony Domínguez comes in. Albert Pujols comes out for the likely final at-bat of his career in the bottom of the 8th and a runner on first. Pujols singles and puts a runner on first and second but the Cardinals do not capitalize. Zach Eflin comes into the bottom of the 9th inning for the Phillies. Yadier Molina hits a single to put a man on third and first to possibly tie and/or win the game. The Cardinals are unable to score and the Phillies win 2-0. The Phillies win the Wild Card 2 games to none and move on to the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. Game 1 is on Tuesday. If this is Albert Pujols and/or Yadier Molina’s last game, thank you for such amazing careers.
Jordan Burden