Aaron Nola returns to form in Phillies’ 3-1 win over Cubs
Sunday was about getting Nola back on track, and for seven inning against the Cubs, he was stellar.
CHICAGO — Let it be said that the Phillies won a game — a series, too — here Sunday night by scoring two runs in the 10th inning without getting a hit that left the infield.
Hey, it’s good to be opportunistic.
But the most notable aspect of a grind-it-out 3-1 victory over the Cubs came when Aaron Nola stood on the mound at Wrigley Field for seven innings and finally resembled, well, Aaron Nola again.
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Surely, you remember the look. Never mind that Nola still didn’t have his peak fastball velocity. He mixed five pitches, including a cutter that he often leaves on the shelf, and located them with precision to hold the Cubs to one run on three hits.
“That was vintage Noles,” said Trea Turner, who beat out a chopper to third base in the 10th inning for his third hit of the game to drive in a run. “He had all his pitches working. Curveball was really good. He was great.”
As usual, the Phillies barely generated any offense for Nola. He left after 99 pitches with the game knotted at 1-1. It wasn’t until the 10th that the Phillies drew three walks and scored the go-ahead run on Alec Bohm’s sacrifice fly before Turner’s two-out single. Embattled reliever Jordan Romano locked it down by retiring the Cubs in order.
So, Nola didn’t get credited with the win. But after losing his first five starts, he did avoid becoming the first Phillies pitcher since Whit Wyatt in 1945 to begin a season 0-6.
Not that you’d know it from his demeanor.
The combination of uncharacteristically spotty command and an extreme lack of run support (10 runs in five starts) conspired to turn Nola into the seventh pitcher in Phillies history to lose his first five starts of a season.
Teammates also kidded Nola about his rotten luck with the weather. All but one of his starts were made in sub-55-degree chill. When he faced the Giants at home on April 16, the wind whipped at 22 mph at first pitch.
The conditions have been so poor that 59 degrees in Chicago felt almost balmy.
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Through it all, nothing about Nola has changed. He does the same thing between starts. Play catch. Run in the outfield. Work out in the weight room. Throw a bullpen session.
You can set your watch to it.
It’s why the Phillies don’t worry about Nola figuring things out. He leads all major league pitchers in starts, innings, and pitches since 2017 because he’s able to repeat his routine over and over, week after week, year after year.
“A lot of guys would be bouncing off the wall,” manager Rob Thomson said. “But he walks in, puts his hard hat on, and goes to work every day. He does the same thing. He’s got a process, he’s very consistent. That’s why I really don’t worry about him that much.”
This week, after giving up four runs last Monday night in New York, Nola focused between starts on achieving better fastball command. He located everything well against the Cubs, working ahead in the count and getting mostly weak contact.
The Cubs’ hits against Nola: a bloop double by Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI double on a changeup off the shoetop in the second inning, and a flare single by Miguel Amaya in the fifth.
Otherwise, Nola dazzled. His fastball velocity ticked up only slightly. It usually gets better as the weather warms. But he recorded strikeouts with his curveball, sinker, and a cutter that he threw 17 times, more often than any start since last May. Entering the game, hitters were 3-for-5 with a homer against Nola’s cutter. He got six swings and misses with it against the Cubs.
“Cutter felt really good,” Nola said. “It might have been as good as it’s been in a while. I think that opened up some stuff. The fastball command, especially to the righties, was good. I felt like I was behind the ball a little bit more.”
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Indeed, after walking 10 batters in his previous three starts, Nola didn’t issue a walk until losing a nine-pitch duel with Michael Busch to open the seventh inning.
“When I’m able to command all of my pitches, at least three of them, I feel like it becomes a little easier to become unpredictable,” Nola said. “I think that played a part. It was important.”
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon mostly matched Nola for seven innings. After breaking out for 10 runs on 12 hits Saturday, the Phillies generated little against Taillon save for Bryson Stott’s one-out triple and Turner’s single through the left side in the third inning.
Nick Castellanos drove a ball to the left-field wall in the ninth inning, but Ian Happ caught it with his back to the ivy. It wasn’t until J.T. Realmuto and Max Kepler worked back-to-back walks in the 10th that the Phillies mounted a rally.
“We were just looking for a break,” Turner said. “I feel like we hadn’t been playing horrible. We just haven’t been getting the job done. And sometimes you need a little light at the end of the tunnel to build that confidence.”
Especially for Nola.
“He was back to his old self,” Turner said. “He’s going to be good for us. Not worried about him at all.”