By: Brandon Apter, contributor 
Final: Phillies 1, Cardinals 0 ❖ Attendance: 40,087
St.Louis, MO — Looking to rebound from a blowout loss on Monday night, the Phillies turned to 2014 first round pick, Aaron Nola. Nola was coming off of a performance against the Nationals on April 28th that saw him scatter just two hits while striking out seven in the Phillies 3-0 win. Tonight, the Louisiana State University product duplicated his performance.
One night after Phillies pitching allowed the Cardinals to hit five homers, Nola shut down their offense, limiting them to just two hits in seven stellar innings. He retired 21 of the final 23 hitters he faced and recorded 17 of his 21 outs by either strikeout or ground ball. Nola's 44 strikeouts is good for a tie for fourth in all of baseball with Noah Syndergaard and behind only Clayton Kershaw, David Price and Madison Bumgarner. The lone offense on the night was from St. Louis native Ryan Howard. The 36-year-old first baseman launched a solo home run over the bullpen in right-center in the 6th to give the Phils a lead they wouldn't squander.
The 1-0 win was the Phillies Major League leading 6th shutout of the season. Last season, they were 9-69 in games in which they scored three runs or less. This season, they are 9-9. The Phillies have won 10 of their last 12 games.
Adam Morgan will look to give the Phillies the advantage in the four-game set with the Cardinals tomorrow night at Busch Stadium. He'll be opposed by Mike Leake.
WP: Aaron Nola (2-2, 2.93 ERA) ❖ LP: Michael Wacha (2-2, 2.65 ERA) ❖ SV: Jeanmar Gomez (9)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| PHI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| STL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
With pitching the story in this one, it took until the 6th inning for the first run to cross the plate. Ryan Howard belted a solo home run to right-center, his 22nd against the Cardinals in his career and his 12th at Busch Stadium, to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead.
✌️ #BigPiece https://t.co/tt6tL6THz8 pic.twitter.com/CUYgzbw1Yc
— Phillies (@Phillies) May 4, 2016
Following the departure of Aaron Nola, Hector Neris hurled a scoreless 8th. He's struck out 27 and walked just four so far this season. Jeanmar Gomez earned his 9th save of the year, striking out one and allowing one hit, sealing the Phillies 1-0 win.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Nola | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2.93 |
| Michael Wacha | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 1.64 |
Phillies
- Ryan Howard: 1-3, HR, R, RBI, BB, 2 K, .190 AVG
- Maikel Franco: 1-4, 2B, K, .250 AVG
- Cesar Hernandez: 1-3, 2B, .259 AVG
Cardinals
- Matt Carpenter: 1-4, 2B, K, .235 AVG
- Yadier Molina: 1-3, .333 AVG
- Stephen Piscotty: 1-4, 2 K, .288 AVG
Phillies
- Hector Neris: 1.0 IP, 3 K, 1.10 ERA
- Jeanmar Gomez: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K, 1.69 ERA
Cardinals
- Jonathan Broxton: 1.0 IP, 1 K, 1.64 ERA
What's Next
- Wednesday, May 4, 2016: at St. Louis Cardinals, 8:15 p.m.
- Busch Stadium
- LHP Adam Morgan (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Mike Leake (0-3, 5.83 ERA)
- TV: CSN; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
