HOUSTON — Aaron Nola took a perfect game into the seventh inning and Kyle Schwarber homered twice as the Philadelphia Phillies clinched their first playoff berth in 11 years with a 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Monday night.
After Brandon Marsh caught Mauricio Dubon‘s fly ball in center for the game’s final out, players jumped and cheered in jubilation before meeting at the mound where they hugged and bounced around some more.
The video board at Minute Maid Park displayed the team’s logo and the words: “Congratulations Philadelphia” as the Phillies celebrated.
A small but vocal group of Philadelphia fans congregated near the team’s dugout and chanted: “Let’s go Phillies,” in the bottom of the ninth inning.
In the victorious clubhouse, Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson gave his team a quick speech before champagne flew.
“We’re not done,” he told his team. “After Wednesday, we’ve got 13 more wins, and we’re world champions. … Congratulations, enjoy this, you’ve earned it.”
The Phillies clinched at the same ballpark where they secured their last postseason trip Sept. 14, 2011. That game was a 1-0 victory over the Astros highlighted by a complete game shutout by Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.
Philadelphia’s postseason drought was the longest active one in the majors after the Seattle Mariners clinched their first playoff berth in 21 years Friday night.
“Enjoy. This doesn’t come around all the time,” Phillies principal owner John Middleton told the team in the clubhouse. “I want to get used to this like we were from ’07 to ’11.”
The Phillies entered the opener of the final regular-season series of the year needing a win or a loss by the Brewers to get a National League wild-card spot. The Brewers rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 6-5 in 10 innings a few minutes before Philadelphia wrapped up the victory.
Nola (11-13) struck out nine and didn’t allow a baserunner until Yordan Alvarez singled with two outs in the seventh. David Hensley followed with a single and Nola was replaced by Jose Alvarado, who struck out Kyle Tucker to end the inning.
Zach Eflin pitched a scoreless ninth to complete the shutout and get his first save in 11 years of pro ball.
Schwarber got things going for the Phillies in their first visit to Houston since Sept. 16, 2012, with a leadoff homer off Lance McCullers (4-2).
Philadelphia added some insurance when Bryson Stott and Schwarber hit back-to-back solo shots off Jose Urquidy to start the eighth inning.
It is the eighth multi-home run game this season for Schwarber, who leads the NL with a career-high 46 home runs, and gives him 199 homers in his career.
The Phillies have three players who will appear in the postseason for the first time after playing more than 600 career games. Jean Segura leads the group with 1,327, J.T. Realmuto has 1,004 and Rhys Hoskins is at 666.
McCullers allowed six hits and one run with five strikeouts in six innings.
Manager Dusty Baker replaced Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Jeremy Pena with Aledmys Diaz, Dubon and Hensley for the seventh inning.
He said before the game that he planned to get some of his starters out early to rest since Houston has already clinched the best record in the American League.
The news was good off the field for Philadelphia, as well. Phillies left-handed reliever Brad Hand (elbow tendinitis) threw a bullpen session Monday, and could throw live batting practice Wednesday. If that goes well, he could be ready to return for the postseason.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.