None of that stopped the board from pricing Philadelphia as the clear favorite going in, and the market wasn't wrong to lean that way — Citizens Bank Park has been a house of horrors for Miami all week.
Nola went out and delivered exactly the start Philadelphia needed: 7 innings, 1 run, 8 strikeouts, zero walks. Jose Arraez set the tone early, scoring on a Garrett Stubbs infield single in the 2nd before turning around and hitting a 2-run homer in the 3rd. Miami's lone answer came on a Xavier Sanoja homer in the 6th, and Kyle Schwarber's run in the 7th on a Justin Turner double — upheld after a Phillies challenge — was more than enough insurance.
Alcantara wasn't bad, exactly — 6 innings, 3 runs, 8 hits — but he managed just 1 strikeout after averaging closer to a strikeout an inning most of the year, and Philadelphia's contact-heavy approach against him worked. Janson Duran closed it out with a scoreless 9th, and the final was 4-1.
The sweep runs Philadelphia's win streak to 6 with the finale included, and it's the kind of stretch that turns a good August into a real playoff push. For Miami, it's the flip side — a rotation and bullpen already down several arms just got run through the buzzsaw of the hottest team in baseball, and there's no easy fix waiting on the schedule.