Aaron Nola pitched eight terrific innings and Jhoan Duran earned the save against his former team as the Philadelphia Phillies edged the visiting Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Friday.
Amid a season plagued by injuries and inconsistency, Nola (5-10) allowed just one run and two hits in his final postseason tune-up. He struck out nine and walked no batters, helping Philadelphia (95-65) move within 1 ½ games of Milwaukee (96-63) for the top spot in the National League playoffs.
Duran allowed a pair of singles in the ninth before closing the door for his 32nd save — 16 for the Twins and 16 since coming over in a trade deadline swap with the Phillies.
Joe Ryan (13-10) struck out nine batters in five innings for Minnesota (69-91), which had won three of its previous four games. The right-hander allowed two runs and five hits with one walk, concluding his season with a 3.47 ERA.
Nola logged a smooth first inning, setting the stage for his teammates to take the lead in the bottom half. Singles by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper put runners on the corners before Alec Bohm lifted a sacrifice fly to right.
Ryan worked around a pair of baserunners in the third, but Nola was even better. The veteran right-hander struck out Ryan Jeffers to end the fourth and Edouard Julien to end the fifth, still having not allowed a baserunner.
Edmundo Sosa’s solo homer off Ryan extended the lead to 2-0 in the fifth.
Nola retired the first two hitters of the sixth before Christian Vazquez’s homer to left ended the perfect game bid. Still, Nola recovered to strike out Byron Buxton to end the frame.
Philadelphia pushed across an insurance run in the sixth as Bohm reached on an infield single before Brandon Marsh delivered a run-scoring double to make it 3-1.
Nola surrendered a leadoff triple to former Phillie Kody Clemens in the seventh but then got the next three batters, including a pair of strikeouts, to escape the jam.
Nola set down Minnesota 1-2-3 in the eighth before leaving to a standing ovation.
