Hamels Puts Phillies Closer To First

Cole Hamels pitched seven shutout innings as the Philadelphia Phillies clawed out a 1-0 win over the Brewers.

Carlos Ruiz drove in the lone run of the game and Hamels was overpowering in the opener of a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

The Atlanta Braves were losing in Florida and a Braves' loss would put the Phillies one game out of first place in the National League East.

The Phillies also have a 2 1/2 game lead in the wild car race.
Hamels (9-10) gave up just three hits to go with seven strikeouts and three walks to pick up his second straight win. Ryan Madson recorded his fifth save of the year.

The victory moved the Phillies, who have won four in a row and seven of eight, within 1 1/2 games of the NL East-leading Braves, who are in action against the Marlins.

Chris Capuano (2-3) was solid in five frames, allowing one run on four hits to suffer the hard-luck loss. He also fanned four batters and walked two for Milwaukee, which has lost four straight.

Hamels was coming off another sparkling effort on Aug. 29 in his hometown of San Diego, when he allowed four hits in eight scoreless innings. Before that, the left-hander had gone 0-3 with five no-decisions in his previous eight outings.