Thursday, October 1, 2026
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79 ° Clear
The Phillies didn’t need much offense to put a fitting bow on baseball’s best August. Bryson Stott launched the longest home run of his career while Bryce Harper extended his career-best on-base streak to highlight a 2-1 victory over the Diamondbacks. Despite getting out-hit 6-9 on the night, the Phillies’ pitching staff, led by a strong outing from Aaron Nola, held the line against the Diamondbacks, preventing the snakes from scoring on multiple occasions to lock in the Phillies’ league-leading 21st win on the month of August.
Bryson Stott is not a player known for power, especially when compared to the likes of teammates Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. A contact hitter, Stott does collect the occasional long ball, reaching double digits in each of his first four seasons as a big leaguer. Monday night, he made it five seasons.
The 28-year-old infielder smoked a red-zone fastball offering from Brandon Pfaadt, taking it 464 feet into right field for a solo shot. The longest home run of Stott’s career broke the ice, giving the Phillies a 1-0 advantage in the top of the second.
Garrett Stubbs has caught for Aaron Nola in six of Nola’s last seven starts. The pair has seemingly built a good rapport this season, aiding in Nola’s work towards returning to his old self on the mound.
Stubbs also supported Nola in the batter’s box Monday. The catcher led off the top of the third with a single into right field. Following a walk from Schwarber and a fly-out from Trea Turner, Stubbs was 90-feet from scoring as Harper stepped up to the plate.
Harper then drove a double into straightaway center field, off the warning track, to score Stubbs. The double extended Harper’s on-base streak to 33 games, a career-high for the Showman.
Schwarber advanced to third on the double and would attempt to score on a grounder Luis Arraez hit to second base. Instead, Ildemaro Vargas threw Schwarber out at the plate, preventing the extra run for the Phillies.
The Diamondbacks responded to the Phillies in the bottom of the third. Geraldo Perdomo singled into left field with one out in the inning. After a fly-out from Corbin Carroll for out number two, Gabriel Moreno doubled into left field, scoring Perdomo to put the Diamondbacks on the board.
Nola then worked his way through the fourth and fifth innings unscathed. He returned to the mound for the bottom of the sixth but would not record an out. Nola allowed a lead-off single to Moreno before walking Ketel Marte, putting two baserunners on for the Diamondbacks. With the lead on the line, Don Mattingly opted to go to the bullpen, bringing in Alex McFarlane.
The rookie pitched a gem of an inning with two runners on, working Lars Nootbaar into a flyout before punching out Nolan Arenado for out number two. McFarlane then got Tim Tawa to bite on a low slider for a groundout to end the inning without harm.
McFarlane’s excellent relief inning helped close the books for Nola, who ended the day having allowed only one run on five hits and two walks through five-plus frames of work. Nola struck out four batters while not allowing a single home run, his first such outing since July 5.
The effort brought Nola’s ERA, which peaked at 6.04 on May 20, down to 4.93 on the season. It’s the first time since April 14 that Nola has had a sub-5.00 ERA.
McFarlane took what could have been a difficult transition to the bullpen and turned it into an easy one for the Phillies. Taking the sixth inning, McFarlane passed the baton to Orion Kerkering for the seventh. Kerkering allowed a leadoff single to Vargas, but later picked him off on an attempted steal. Vargas had attempted to time up his steal to Kerkering’s motion, instead becoming a fish in a barrel as Kerkering simply stepped off to throw to Turner covering second for the out.
Before the pick-off, Kerkering caught Ryan Waldschmidt swinging on an outside fastball for an out, giving him two outs on the inning. Perdomo worked a walk against Kerkering, however, putting a new runner on base with two outs for the Diamondbacks.
With a left-handed Carroll due up, Mattingly opted to bring in left-handed pitcher Brooks Raley to finish the inning. Raley needed only three pitches to do so, getting Carroll to fly out down the left field line to Brandon Marsh.
José Alvarado took the ball for the bottom of the eighth, allowing a pair of baserunners as Marte singled into right field before Jordan Lawlar worked a pinch-hit walk. With one out and two runners on, Alvarado caught Arenado on an infield fly pop out to second base for the second out of the inning. Alvarado then pitched Tawa into his third strikeout of the day for the final out of the inning.
Jhoan Duran allowed a pair of baserunners in the bottom of the ninth but did not allow the Diamondbacks to score a run. Striking out Vargas to start the inning, Duran allowed an infield single to Waldschmidt to put one runner on. Duran then struck out Perdomo for the second out of the inning. Carroll followed up by hitting the second infield single of the inning, putting two runners on. Despite throwing a wild pitch to Moreno, allowing Waldschmidt to advance to third, Duran got Moreno to ground out for the final out of the inning. Duran picked up the save on the 2-1 victory for the Phillies, the closer’s 29th of the season.
With the victory, the Phillies improve to a 78-60 record on the season. Their 21-7 mark in the month of August was the best in all of baseball, putting the team in good position ahead of what will be a difficult month of September to navigate.
Phillies fans will rejoice after Tuesday night’s 9:40 p.m. start, the final late-night West Coast game of the regular season for the ballclub. Jesús Luzardo is scheduled to get the start on Tuesday for the Phillies, facing off against fellow left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.
