Joya de Nola, Harper HR send the Phillies to the SDLN

ST. LOUIS — The Phillies wasted no time bringing their raucous celebration from the field to the visitors’ clubhouse, where they broke out the champagne. It was the Cardinals who were slow to leave.

They were left ruminating their sorrows and the end of an era.

Aaron Nola pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning, Bryce Harper homered and Philadelphia beat St. Louis 2-0 on Saturday to sweep it in the wild-card series, marking the end of brilliant careers for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina.

Nola prescribed six strikeouts and gave away a walk in his work of 101 pitches. He left with two outs in the seventh inning. Jose Alvarado later retired Molina with a lob, leaving a runner stranded at first.

“Everyone in this clubhouse, on this team and in this organization is super excited,” Nola said. “We’re just a group of selfless gamers who do whatever it takes to win games, no matter what. That excites us a lot.”

Seranthony Dominguez struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, two MVP candidates, to get out of a jam with two on board and a pair of outs in the eighth inning.

The Cardinals had one last shot at Zach Eflin in the ninth. Corey Dickerson and Molina hit back-to-back singles with two outs.

However, the starter-turned-closer responded by forcing Tommy Edman to foul out to end the game. That gave the Phillies their first playoff series win since beating Cincinnati in the 2010 divisional round.

The next step is a duel against a known rival. The Atlanta Braves, champions of the Eastern Division and of the last World Series, will host the first game on Tuesday.

Pujols hit a pair of singles, including one in the eighth, in what was almost certainly the last at-bat of his career. Both he and Molina had said they would retire as soon as the current campaign was over.

Busch Stadium was attended by 48,515 people, the third largest crowd in Busch Stadium history. They waved flags and shouted incessantly in search of keeping alive a campaign in which it seemed that the Cardinals were predestined to achieve something important to give a triumphant farewell to their two Latin American stars.

Instead, they watched as the NL Central champions were eliminated in a heartbeat.

St. Louis succumbed in the opening round of the playoffs for the third year in a row.

“This is very hard, especially when you know it’s Yadi and Albert’s last year,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “There’s just an added motivation for them. We wanted to do something special and let their story end with a championship.”

“Obviously this is a disappointment. But it is what it is.”

For the Phillies, Dominican Jean Segura 1-0.

For the Cardinals, Dominican Pujols 4-2. The Venezuelan Juan Yepez 4-1. Puerto Rican Molina 4-1.