It took a while, but Aaron Nola is starting to look like the $172 million pitcher the Philadelphia Phillies paid for. The right-hander turned in his best start of the year against the Miami Marlins in a 4-1 Phillies win.
“He pitched great, it’s good to see that,” interim Phillies manager Don Mattingly told 94 WIP’s Dan Wilson. “He’s been good here a long time. He’s been pretty good this year for a long time now too.”
It was the type of start the Phillies have been waiting for with the 33-year-old right-hander all season. He buzzsawed through the Marlins lineup for seven innings, allowing just one run with eight strikeouts and no walks. It marked only the second time Nola has cleared the seventh inning this season.
Phillies fans gave Nola a standing ovation after striking out Joe Mack to finish the seventh.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the 7th,” Nola told Wilson. “It was good to get through seven there, keep it at 1 run for the team, and to only get 2 bullpen guys out there.”
The Phillies bullpen has dealt with a heavy workload of late, so having a deep start by Nola was a huge lift.
Aaron Nola’s Recent Performance Sparks Hope for Phillies
GettyAaron Nola’s improvement has been a bright spot for the Phillies in the second half. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Phillies’ rotation has been carried mostly by the elite trio of Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesus Luzardo. But Aaron Nola’s recent surge gives the club one of the best rotations, in terms of top-four starters.
Nola’s struggles have been well-documented this season. His ERA entering the All-Star break was an unsightly 5.75, but he’s strung together strong starts in the second half.
In his last five starts, he’s resembled more of the starter that earned the big contract. Nola has a 2.51 ERA with 34 strikeouts over 28.2 innings.
It took a while for the results to show up on the scoreboard, but the Phillies have won three of Nola’s last four starts. That came after the club lost his previous six, although much of it was out of his control.
With both Nola and the Phillies getting better results in his starts, they’re looking dangerous down the stretch and in the postseason. It may come down to how well their lineup and bullpen performs, if they’re going to make a deep run this year.
Aaron Nola on Working With Backup Catcher Garrett Stubbs
GettyAaron Nola has a 3.57 ERA this season in eight starts with Garrett Stubbs as his catcher. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
In his last two starts, Aaron Nola has worked with backup catcher Garrett Stubbs. The two authored a pretty good pitching performance in Iowa for the Field of Dreams Game.
But with starting catcher J.T. Realmuto needing a breather, Stubbs got to catch Nola again. The results were even better than the previous time out.
“Stubby, we were on the same page pretty much the whole game,” said Nola in a postgame interview with Phillies broadcasters Tom McCarthy and John Kruk on NBC Sports Philadelphia. “The more he catches, the more comfortable we get.
“Obviously J.T. and I are comfortable because it’s been years and years. It’s good to get both of them working in there and just really on the same page. The communication has been there with both of them.”
Given the recent success between the Nola and Stubbs battery, it would not be a surprise to see the two work together on August 25.
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