NEW YORK _ It's always a good time for the Phillies when they can hand the ball to Aaron Nola. The ace right-hander is one of the best pitchers in baseball and a newly minted All-Star. And, at age 25, he's just getting warmed up.
But it was particularly timely when Nola walked to the mound here Monday night.
About a half-hour before Nola delivered his first pitch in the nightcap of a doubleheader against the New York Mets, the Phillies had lost, 4-3, on Wilmer Flores' 10th-inning pinch-hit solo home run off the left-field foul pole. It was only one game, sure. But the Phillies hadn't held anything back, even using relief ace Seranthony Dominguez for two innings only to see the offense go 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and leave 12 men on base, five in the last three innings.
"We weren't thinking about preserving bullets for Game 2," manager Gabe Kapler said. "We were thinking about emptying the clip in game one if we needed to."
Why? The Phillies, Kapler said, trust Nola to pitch deep into every game he starts. And he wasn't about to let them down now _ on the mound or at the plate.
Nola one-hit the Mets for seven scoreless innings, racking up 10 strikeouts and facing two batters over the minimum in a sweep-averting 3-1 victory at Citi Field. And if all that wasn't enough, Nola drove in the Phillies' runs himself with a bases-clearing two-out double in the fifth inning against Mets starter Corey Oswalt. With one swing, Nola doubled his career RBI total from 136 previous at-bats.
If only he had tossed a complete game, it could have been said that Nola was a one-man band.
Nola's burden wouldn't have been so heavy if only the Phillies had cashed in their opportunities late in that first game. Instead, they worked back-to-back-to-back one-out walks in the eighth inning and left the bases loaded, then squandered a two-on, none-out situation in the 10th with a poorly executed bunt by Andrew Knapp.
And so, as they started the final week before the All-Star break _ with pitching prospect Enyel De Los Santos set to make his major-league debut Tuesday night and Mets ace Jacob deGrom looming in the series finale Wednesday _ the Phillies needed Nola as much as ever to help them become the National League's fifth 50-win team.
From his first pitch _ a 93-mph heater to Amed Rosario _ Nola dazzled. His signature curveball was particularly nasty, and he got Rosario, Brandon Nimmo, and Michael Conforto to swing haplessly at it for strikeouts in the first inning. And while his breaking ball was good early, he got a bunch of swings and misses later in the game with his change-up.
Nola was never in trouble. The Mets put only two runners on base against him and neither advanced into scoring position. If not for a 12-pitch at-bat by Nimmo that resulted in a strikeout in the seventh inning, Nola would have been able to pitch into the eighth. Instead, he gave way after 104 pitches to reliever Tommy Hunter, who allowed a two-out run in the ninth inning.
If the first game raised anew the question of whether the Phillies bench is deep enough _ Aaron Altherr grounded into a double play in the sixth inning before rookies Jesmuel Valentin and Dylan Cozens struck out in the eighth and 10th, respectively _ the second game brought back the same concerns about the Phillies' overall offense.
Making only his third career start, Corey Oswalt looked more like Roy Oswalt (no relation) in retiring the first 12 batters. On-base machine Carlos Santana worked a leadoff walk in the fifth inning to finally give the Phillies a baserunner. Altherr also drew a walk, and with two outs, Mets manager Mickey Callaway ordered an intentional walk of hot-hitting Maikel Franco to face Nola.
Big mistake. Nola lined a first-pitch fastball into the right-field corner to empty the bases and prove the Phillies can count on him for almost anything.
