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Jean Segura continued to wear down the New York Mets’ pitch, Bryce Harper added sparkle to his MVP candidacy and Aaron Nola tasted victory for the first time in nearly two months as the growing Phillies continued to roll with a 5-3 victory at Citi Field in Queens on Saturday night.
About 30 minutes after the Phillies finished their fourth straight victory, the Atlanta Braves suffered their fourth straight loss in a 2-0 loss to San Francisco.
It all left the Phillies a comeback in the NL East race with two weeks left in the regular season and set the stage for some drama on Sunday. The Braves play a game at 4 p.m. in San Francisco. The Phillies play a 7 p.m. game against the Mets in New York.
It is possible that the two teams will be tied for first place in the division as the late news arrives on Sunday night.
The Phillies, 76-72 with 14 games to go, will look to sweep the Mets behind Kyle Gibson before returning home to open the final homestand of the season Monday night against Baltimore.
At home, the Phillies will play three against Baltimore and four against Pittsburgh before traveling to Atlanta for a showdown with the Braves on September 28. The Orioles are the worst team in the American League and the Pirates are the second worst team in the National League. They are a total of 90 games under .500.
After their Sunday game against the Giants, the Braves stay out west for four against Arizona and more than three against San Diego. (Both teams will resume a suspended game in the three-game series.)
Arizona have the worst record in the NL, but the Diamondbacks are capable of causing problems for teams, as the Phillies learned when they were swept away by them in August.
The Phils had several clutch performances in their important victory over the Mets on Saturday night.
Segura had two solo homers, one in the first set and one in the third, against Mets starter Carlos Carrasco to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead. Segura is hitting 0.324 (79 for 244) with 10 homers and 32 RBIs in 61 career games against the Mets.
“I see the ball really well when we play with these guys,” he said afterwards.
Harper continued to race for the National League MVP with an important two-run brace in the bottom of the seventh inning. The hit gave the Phils a 5-1 lead and left Harper with 27 RBIs in his last 24 games and 79 for the season. He leads the majors with a 1.056 OPS.
Perhaps the most encouraging contribution of the night came from Nola, who pitched 5 2/3 innings of a run. He walked one and pulled out nine for his first win since July 25.
“I feel like it’s been a while,” Nola said. “We are in a race. I just want to do my job the best I can.
Manager Joe Girardi sensed Nola was running out of gas and pulled him out of a one-point game in the sixth. Jose Alvarado came on and struck out Michael Conforto on strikes with a man on goal for the third out of the set and the Phils scored three runs in the seventh. The rally was fueled by doubles from Brad Miller, Freddy Galvis and Harper.
Nola was 0-2 with a 5.10 ERA in nine starts since his last win. The team was only 3-6 in those games.
Nola’s struggles in September are well documented. In the past three seasons, he’s made 15 starts in September. It was only the team’s fourth win in those games and it was a big win.
Perhaps the outing will give Nola some momentum in the final two weeks of the season. He has two departures left.
“I think he needs to be encouraged by the way he’s pitched tonight,” Girardi said. “I feel good with him every time he throws.”
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