Howard homer does in Cardinals in 1-0 loss to Philadelphia

ST. LOUIS -- Aaron Nola threw seven innings and Ryan Howard homered to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Philadelphia has won seven of eight while St. Louis has lost five of six.

Jeanmar Gomez recorded his ninth save in as many opportunities after Hector Neris struck out the side in the eighth inning.

Nola (2-2) allowed two hits and struck out seven in an 111-pitch stint. He has a string of 20 consecutive scoreless innings dating to April 22. Nola, who retired the last 10 batters, has given up one run or fewer in four of six starts this season.

Howard, a St. Louis native, drilled a first-pitch offering from Michael Wacha (2-2) over the wall in right in the sixth inning.

He has 22 homers in 66 games against St. Louis and has 12 homers in 36 games at Busch Stadium.

Wacha gave up one run and five hits in eight innings. He struck out eight and walked three.

Philadelphia, which lost four of its first five games this season, had a six-game winning streak snapped in Monday's 10-3 loss at St. Louis.

The Cardinals' biggest threat came in the first inning. Matt Carpenter led off with a double, but Nola retired the next three hitters in order.

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The Cardinals have scored a major league-best 61 runs after the sixth inning this season. They have hit 19 home runs in that stretch, also tops in the majors.

TRAINER'S ROOM:

Cardinals: OF Tommy Pham, who took batting practice on Monday, will likely go out on a rehab assignment in the next few days. Pham has missed 26 games after being placed on the DL with a left oblique strain on April 4.

UP NEXT

Phillies: LHP Adam Morgan (0-0, 5.40) will make his second start of the season in the third game of the four-game series on Wednesday. Morgan gave up three runs in five innings of a 4-3 win over Cleveland on Friday.

Cardinals: RHP Mike Leake (0-3, 5.83) will start for the Cardinals. He has given up four or more runs in all five starts this season. Leake, who was signed as a free agent on Dec. 23 after six years with Cincinnati, is 2-3 with a 6.00 ERA in eight career starts against Phillies.