SEATTLE_A good starting pitching performance can lift even the worst of teams to victory against teams it shouldn't beat.
The Philadelphia Phillies limped into Safeco Field on Tuesday with the worst record in all of baseball and on pace to lose 110 games this season. And yet, they outpitched, out-hit and outplayed the once-surging Mariners, handing Seattle a crisp, decisive 8-2 defeat.
The Mariners have now dropped three straight games to fall to 39-40 on the season while the Phillies improved to 25-51.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola delivered a solid outing, pitching seven innings and limiting Seattle to two runs on five hits with four walks and nine strikeouts. Using an effective curveball, Nola kept Seattle hitters off balance all night and outdueled Mariners starter James Paxton, who pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on four hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.
Both pitchers had stretches of dominance. Paxton struck out six batters in the first three innings.
Seattle grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning. With two outs and Jarrod Dyson on first base, Jean Segura jumped on a first pitch fastball from Nola, driving it over the wall in right field for his fifth homer of the season.
The Phillies answered in the fifth inning when Paxton had a momentary lapse of command. He gave up a leadoff double_his first hit allowed in the game_to Maikel Franco and then an infield single to Cameron Perkins on a nubbed ground ball to third. Paxton then walked Cameron Rupp to load the bases. The Phillies capitalized on the opportunity getting a pair sacrifice flies from Ty Kelly and Daniel Nava to tie the game at 2-2. The Phillies had a chance to take the lead in the inning, but Mitch Haniger threw out Rupp at home when he tried to score from second on a single to end the inning.
The Phillies took the lead two innings later when Franco took advantage of a slider up in the zone, sending it into the Phillies bullpen for a leadoff homer. The solo blast was Franco's 10th homer of the season.
Down a run, the Mariners had their opportunities to tie the game or take the lead. They had runners in scoring position in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings and failed to capitalize. The most costly came in sixth when Seattle had runners on the corners with no outs. But Nola struck out Nelson Cruz for the third time on the night and got Kyle Seager to ground into an inning-ending double play.
In the seventh, with runners on first and second and two outs, Segura appeared to have a double down the third baseline. But Franco made a diving stop and fired to first to get Segura to end the inning.
The Phillies tacked on an insurance run in the seventh against reliever Tony Zych on an RBI single from Freddy Galvis to make it 4-2.
The game fell apart in the ninth. Edwin Diaz, who hadn't pitched since June 21, got in the game to pitch the ninth and struggled, giving up four runs on three hits, including a massive two-run homer to Aaron Altherr to turn the game into a rout.
