The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3 last night at Citizens Bank Park. Aaron Nola notched his eighth win of the season as he allowed one run over 6.2 innings while striking out 10 Rockies.

Scott Kingery was the shining star for the offense as he went 1 for 2 with a home run, four RBIs, and a walk. It was Kingery’s first home run in nearly two months and it came in the first inning, plating three. Nola returned to the mound with a three-run lead and cruised from there. Kingery would extend the lead to 4-0 in the third with a sac fly getting himself to 20 ribbies on the season.

Edubray Ramos and Tommy Hunter came in to hold on the 4-1 lead through the top of the eighth. A Jesmuel Valentin pinch-hit RBI single would extend the lead to 5-1 and thank god he did. Luis Garcia came in for the ninth inning and his weekend woes carried over through the off day. Garcia let up four-straight singles and the Rockies all of a sudden had the bases juiced with the tying run on first with no outs. Seranthony Dominguez came in to clean up Garica’s mess but a well-struck single by Chris Iannetta followed by a sac fly from DJ LeMahieu made the score 5-4. Dominguez remained calm and managed to get the final two outs but once again, the Phillies bullpen managed to make things very interesting.

I’m not sure what happened to Luis Garcia for him to all of a sudden look lost on the mound. Since the dreaded West Coast road trip began two weeks ago, Garcia has made six appearances and pitched 3.0 innings but has faced 16 batters. He’s allowed nine hits, six runs, and forced only three groundballs against 10 flyballs. His ERA has climbed from 2.91 to 4.74 in that two-week span. Garcia has been shaky at moments in the season, most relievers have their down moments, but we haven’t seen him be this shaky over a number of appearances in a row. The end theme of yesterday’s recap was the team has plenty of time to figure things out but Garcia has me a little more concerned than the rest.

Overall, I can’t complain that much. Aside from Gacia, the rest of the pitching staff looked sharp especially in contrast to the weekend series. The Phillies were able to capitalize on the baserunners they managed to get on board (4 hits, 5 walks, and an error) vs. the Rockies 12 (11 hits and an error). It seems like the Phillies are finally starting to turn the corner.

The middle game of this three-game set is tonight with Nick Pivetta (4-5) taking the hill against Tyler Anderson (3-1). The Phillies have already announced their lineup which includes both Odubel Herrera and JP Crawford taking a night off. Mikel Franco returns to 3B in Crawford’s stead so we’ll so if Franco can capitalize on the opportunity.

(cover photo via)