PHILADELPHIA — A week ago, the Phillies were fighting merely to remain inside the National League playoff picture. Now, they can look up again.
Aaron Nola delivered one of his best starts of the season Wednesday night, Luis Arraez supplied the biggest swing and the Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the Miami Marlins with a 4-1 victory at Citizens Bank Park, extending their season-best winning streak to six games.
Philadelphia improved to 70-58, moving within 4½ games of Atlanta in the NL East after trailing the Braves by 9½ games as recently as Aug. 13. Just as importantly, the Phillies have strengthened their Wild Card position, moving two games ahead of San Diego and three ahead of Arizona.
For a club that spent much of the summer searching for traction, that is a considerable change in a matter of days. And Wednesday, unlike some of the white-knuckle victories that preceded it, never required much drama. Nola made sure of that.
The veteran right-hander allowed one run on five hits across seven innings, striking out eight without issuing a walk. It marked only the second time this season that Nola completed seven innings and his first outing of seven innings with fewer than three runs allowed since his final start of 2025. It was also another indication that the Phillies may finally be getting the version of Nola they will need in September.
Earlier this season, after one of his better outings against Miami in May, Nola acknowledged the standard he believed he had failed to meet.
“I hadn't been doing my job much this year,” Nola told reporters at the time, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Wednesday looked considerably different. The Phillies gave him a lead in the second inning. Arraez singled, Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford added two-out hits to load the bases, and Garrett Stubbs beat out a ground ball to shortstop for an infield single that scored Arraez.
An inning later, Arraez provided something far less subtle. With Bryce Harper aboard, Arraez turned on a Sandy Alcantara offering and drove it into the right-field seats for a two-run homer, his sixth of the season, extending the lead to 3-0.
Arraez finished with two hits and scored twice. The deadline acquisition has added a different dimension to a lineup that too often became dependent on home runs and strikeouts earlier in the season. And while nobody acquired Arraez expecting power, Wednesday's homer was another example of the impact he has made since arriving.
“That's why I'm here,” Arraez said following his Phillies debut earlier this month, “to enjoy the game, and to try to do something special for the guys, and especially for the fans, too.”
Miami's lone response came in the sixth, when Javier Sanoja homered off Nola. Consecutive singles followed, briefly creating the possibility of something larger. Nola ended it himself. He struck out the next two hitters, escaping the inning with the Phillies still ahead 3-1, then returned for a scoreless seventh.
Philadelphia added insurance in the bottom half. Kyle Schwarber singled and Trea Turner doubled him home, although Schwarber was initially ruled out at the plate. The Phillies challenged, the call was overturned, and the lead became 4-1.
Jonathan Bowlan handled the eighth before Jhoan Duran worked a scoreless ninth for his 28th save.
The significance stretched beyond another victory.
Three days before the Miami series began, Philadelphia had only a one-game edge over Arizona in the Wild Card race and was level with San Diego. The Phillies also faced a difficult remaining schedule, including a pivotal three-game trip to Arizona beginning Aug. 31 and seven September games against Atlanta. Philadelphia already owns the season-series tiebreaker over San Diego after going 6-0 against the Padres.
That made this six-game stretch essential.
The Phillies swept Minnesota. Then they swept Miami. And suddenly, the conversation has shifted from whether Philadelphia can hold onto a Wild Card spot to whether the division might still be within reach.
Interim manager Don Mattingly sensed something changing during Sunday's comeback victory in Minnesota. “We've been able to come back,” Mattingly said. “Our at-bats have been good, up and down [the lineup]. As long as we stay with it, start getting guys out there, you've got a chance to break through.”
They have broken through six nights in a row.
The Phillies remain a long way from resolving anything. Their September schedule will provide more than enough opportunities for the race to swing again.
But for the first time in weeks, they have created something valuable. Separation below them. And pressure on the team above them.
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