Nola a 'buzzsaw' against Nats with 8 scoreless frames

WASHINGTON -- The bad news for the Phillies is their closer-by-committee situation is already hitting snags, less than a week in. The good news for the Phillies is, it looks like one of their most important starters has rediscovered his groove.

Aaron Nola is nasty again.

And that’s bad news for the rest of the National League.

Nola spent Saturday in complete control at Nationals Park, twirling eight shutout innings before the Phillies rallied in the 10th to beat the Nationals, 2-1.

Their second straight extra-inning victory is also their 15th win in 17 games, 14th in 16 games under interim manager Rob Thomson and 12th straight over the sputtering Nats.

“Winning is fun,” Nola said. “Losing is not fun. The more you win, the more fun you have, the better it is.”

The Phillies are having a lot of fun these days, even on days when not everything goes right. They are winning big early and winning tight games late. They are pitching when they don’t hit and hitting when they don’t pitch, and winning almost every night, even while still waiting for some of their key players to really get going.

Nola doesn’t quite fit into that category, but the Phillies were certainly counting on a bounceback year from the righty after he regressed to 9-9 with a 4.63 ERA in 2021. He’s quietly found his stride, improving steadily every month. He pitched to a 3.90 ERA in April, a 3.27 ERA in May and owns a sparkling 2.17 ERA in four starts this month.

All told, Nola is 4-4 with a 3.11 ERA and a 9.00 K/BB ratio in 14 starts this season. He’s logged seven or more innings in seven of 14 starts, allowed two runs or fewer in eight and held opponents to one or fewer baserunners per inning in nine of 14.

“He’s been a complete pitcher,” Thomson said. “He’s been really on an impressive roll, he really has.”

On Saturday the Phillies reported to Nationals Park after a 15-hour day spent sweeping a doubleheader, to learn an infected blister infested Bryce Harper’s left hand overnight. Their lineup quieted without Harper, and Brad Hand spoiled Nola’s gem in the ninth after Thomson pulled Nola at 106 pitches with the heart of Washington’s order looming in a one-run game. Hand’s first blown save in two chances in Corey Knebel’s place was the second ninth-inning lead Philadelphia has seen evaporate since Knebel’s closing privileges were revoked.

The Phillies won both games anyway. They rallied in Friday’s nightcap behind José Alvarado with Hand and Seranthony Domínguez both unavailable, and Saturday they used Rhys Hoskins’ pinch-hit go-ahead single and a clean bottom of the 10th from Domínguez to salvage a day Nola spent dealing. He scattered four singles and struck out eight, retiring 19 of his last 22 hitters.

“We ran into a buzzsaw today,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “Nola was really good.”

Nola is throwing fewer four-seam fastballs this year and benefiting from the occasional use of a new cutter. He’s also commanding the baseball better than ever. His intentional walk of Juan Soto in Saturday’s sixth inning marked Nola’s first walk in 35 2/3 innings over five starts dating back to May 21. He’d faced 133 consecutive batters without issuing a free pass, the fourth-longest single-season streak by a Phillies pitcher in the expansion era (since 1961) and second-longest in MLB this season (Kevin Gausman, 136 batters), per the Elias Sports Bureau.

In his last five starts, Nola has 35 strikeouts, no unintentional walks and a 1.93 ERA.

His 3.2 percent walk rate and 0.87 WHIP leads qualified NL starters. Both metrics are far exceeding not only his career norms but also his career-bests, including during Nola’s Cy Young finalist 2018 season. He also made his only All-Star appearance that year.

Less than a month out from this year’s Midsummer Classic, Nola’s positioning himself for another.

“We’ve seen him before when he can be that way, and we’ve seen him before when we can get hits and some runs early on,” Martinez said. “But today, he mixed all his pitches in really well. Our offense couldn’t really get nothing going. We battled, but he had good stuff. Today, Nola was on.”