Wiesloch allgemein » Aaron Nola was the man Gabe Kapler wanted on the mound

It was the right move.

Nola stuck out nine in seven splendid innings Joey Bosa Jersey , Nick Williams hit a two-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-1 Wednesday to sweep a two-game interleague series.

Nola (11-2) gave up one run and seven hits to win his fifth straight decision.

He escaped a jam on his 103rd pitch when second baseman Cesar Hernandez made an outstanding, over-the-shoulder running catch on Machado’s shallow fly to right with two outs and runners on first and third.

”That’s awesome,” Nola said of the play.

Kapler, who was heavily criticized for pulling Nola after 68 pitches in the season opener at Atlanta, visited the mound before letting his ace face Machado with a 2-1 lead.

”We knew he was the best option,” the first-year manager said. ”He always makes us feel confident.”

Nola said he would’ve lobbied to stay in but didn’t have to say anything other than he felt fine.

”I want to go deep in the game,” he said. ”I want to get through that inning.”

After five consecutive losing seasons, the Phillies are on the rise under Kapler. They pulled within 1 1/2 games of NL East-leading Atlanta and moved 10 games over .500 for the first time since finishing the 2011 season with a franchise-record 102 wins.

”It’s a nice milestone, one we can celebrate,” Kapler said.

Making his second career start and third appearance Dwayne Haskins Jersey , Orioles right-hander Yefry Ramirez (0-2) retired 13 of his first 14 batters before running into trouble in the fifth. Ramirez gave up two runs – one earned – and one hit in five innings.

”I was really proud of Yefry. You couldn’t ask for much better,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Williams connected off David Hess in the seventh, sending a 409-foot shot into Philadelphia’s bullpen in right-center and extending the lead to 4-1.

Victor Arano tossed two scoreless innings for his first career save.

Ramirez didn’t allow a hit until Scott Kingery ripped a one-out double to left in the fifth. Williams, who walked, advanced to third on the hit.

Jorge Alfaro followed with a grounder down the first-base line. Chris Davis moved a few steps to his left, took his eyes off the ball to look at Williams running halfway down the line, and the ball knuckled under his glove. Both runners scored on the error.

Adam Jones lined an RBI double to left-center in the third, giving the Orioles a 1-0 lead.

WELCOMING MANNY

For the second straight day, fans clapped each time Machado was introduced. They also chanted ”We want Manny!”

The three-time All-Star is set to become a free agent after the season and the Phillies are among the teams interested in acquiring him before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 or signing him in the offseason.

Machado told reporters before the game he wants to play shortstop wherever he goes and he wouldn’t be surprised if Philadelphia aggressively pursued him. Phillies team president Andy MacPhail held the same position in Baltimore when the Orioles selected Machado No. 3 overall in the 2010 amateur draft.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Orioles: OF Joey Rickard was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to replace OF Colby Rasmus, who was placed on the restricted list before Tuesday night’s game.

Phillies: RHP Jerad Eickhoff was scheduled to throw another live batting practice at Single-A Clearwater. Eickhoff has nerve issue in fingers and hasn’t pitched this season.

UP NEXT

Orioles: RHP Andrew Cashner (2-8 Ed Oliver Jersey , 4.48 ERA) starts the opener of a four-game series at Minnesota on Thursday night. Cashner had a 3.21 ERA in five starts in June but didn’t earn a win.

Phillies: Nick Pivetta (5-7, 4.66 ERA) takes the mound at Pittsburgh for the start of a three-game series on Friday. Pivetta earned the win in a scoreless inning of relief in Philadelphia’s 13-inning victory over Washington last Sunday.

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NEW YORK — Hours before the Atlanta Braves took the field at Yankee Stadium, as an air conditioning vent blew cold air inside a sweltering third base dugout, manager Brian Snitker admitted he did not think the youth would come together so quickly this season.

Snitker thought the Braves would do well but not necessarily possess the best record in the National League.

About 6 1/2 hours later, the Braves wrapped up another win due to some youthful contributions and on Tuesday they can become the first team in the National League to reach 50 victories when they continue a three-game series with the New York Yankees.

The Braves are on a four-game winning streak and 31-19 against opponents with winning records after Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning off David Robertson to give Atlanta a 5-3 victory.

“We’re ahead of where we thought we’d be,” Snitker said before the Braves upped the NL’s best record to 49-34. “Going into the season, I don’t think we expected to be sitting here on July 2 in first place.

“We all felt we were going to do really good. In all honesty with where we were with our club and are, we’ve kind of surpassed what everybody thought the first of March where we’d be. We’re a probably a better team than what we thought we were.”

Among the youthful players is Acuna, who at 20 years, 196 days is the youngest Atlanta rookie to hit a game-winning homer in extra innings since Andruw Jones (20 years http://www.billscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-cody-ford-jersey , three days) did it April 26, 1997, against the San Diego Padres.

Acuna is batting .274 with seven homers and 18 RBIs in 33 games. He also owns six RBIs in extra innings, second most behind 21-year-old Ozzie Albies. The Braves also are 9-3 when he drives in a run.

“I’m never really nervous in those situations, my adrenaline kind of helps out,” Acuna said through an interpreter before adding he could never remember feeling nervous on the field.”

The Yankees (54-28) are 4-6 in their last 10 games after going 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and striking out 12 times.

“We want to put them out there more often than not,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “More often than not we’ll come through in those situations.”

Aaron Judge hit his 23rd homer and walked twice but also couldn’t complete the leaping catch on Acuna’s homer.

“I felt it hit my glove,” Judge said. “It didn’t go in. They got two runs. It was a tough play.”

Judge and the Yankees have only lost a series three times since April 19 and are 45-19 in their last 64 games. They will attempt to do so after extensive use of their bullpen trying to win Monday’s game.

Aroldis Chapman, David Robertson, Dellin Betances Devin Singletary Jersey , Chad Green and Jonathan Holder combined for seven innings and threw 114 pitches.

“Obviously we went through a lot of guys tonight, threw a lot of pitches,” Boone said. “It’ll be a little bit of a challenge tomorrow, but we’ll work through it.”

Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature young pitchers experiencing differing degrees of success of late as Sean Newcomb starts for Atlanta against Domingo German.

After going 4-9 in 18 starts last season, he is 8-2 with a 2.71 ERA in 16 starts in his second campaign.

Newcomb is coming off two straight no-decisions in home starts against the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds. He has allowed three runs or less in all but two starts and allowed one run or less in eight outings, including six scoreless starts.

“He’s a lot more competitive than I was ever led to believe,” said Snitker while noting how Newcomb’s changeup has developed into an effective pitch. “I didn’t know him a lot. I hadn’t seen him a lot in the minor leagues and once he came here, he’s a quiet guy, he doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the mound but he’s very competitive.”

German will make his 10th start and it might be viewed as an audition to stay in the rotation until Masahiro Tanaka returns from a hamstring injury. German will pitch one day before Tanaka makes a rehab start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

German is 2-3 with a 5.88 ERA in nine starts and has shown some flashes but also struggled. He followed up a three-start stretch where he fanned 28 in 19 innings against the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays Kyler Murray Jersey , and Seattle Mariners by struggling immensely in a 7-6 loss at Tampa Bay on June 24.

In his last start, German tied a career worst by allowing six runs on a career-worst nine hits in three-plus innings. He threw 64 pitches to 19 hitters and was pushed back, though he pitched a scoreless relief inning Wednesday at Philadelphia.

German’s only previous start against a National League team occurred June 9, when he allowed three runs on five hits in six innings in a 4-3 win at the Mets.