PHILADELPHIA _ Aaron Nola had outlasted the rain and weathered a rising pitch count and fought off the heart of the Toronto Blue Jays' batting order for a third time, all without giving up a hit. But he also had walked two of the previous three batters, and so, after 107 pitches and with the Phillies' bullpen stirring in the seventh inning of a one-run game Saturday, Nola received a mound visit from manager Gabe Kapler.
The question, to borrow and tweak lyrics by The Clash: Should Nola stay or should he go?
Kapler stuck with Nola, to the delight of an announced crowd of 26,788 at Citizens Bank Park. And six pitches later, on his 113th delivery to the plate, Nola finally yielded. Russell Martin, the veteran catcher-turned-shortstop with the .154 batting average, banged a single through the left side of the infield.
Goodbye, no-hitter. Farewell, lead. Hello again, Kapler, who retrieved the ball from Nola and sent him back to the dugout awash in applause.
So, Nola completed neither his no-hit bid nor the seventh inning. But his latest lights-out start _ and Nick Williams' pinch-hit solo homer in the eighth _ did give the Phillies a 2-1 victory and sole possession of first place in the National League East for the first time since the end of the 2011 season.
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the Phillies, who lost more games than any team in baseball over the past five years, are alone in first place.
It's an ascension built on starting pitching. Between them, Nola, Jake Arrieta, Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez and No. 5 starters Zach Eflin and Ben Lively have combined for a 3.33 ERA, the fourth-best mark in the league. And Nola has been at the head of the class, emerging as not only the Phillies' undisputed ace but also one of the five or 10 best pitchers in the NL.
Nola was brilliant against the Blue Jays. He didn't permit a ball to be hit out of the infield until Teoscar Hernandez's innocent fly ball to center field in the seventh inning. He struck out 10 batters, the fourth time in his career that he reached double digits in whiffs. Between Josh Donaldson's first-inning walk and Justin Smoak's seventh-inning free pass, Nola retired 17 consecutive batters, nine by strikeout.
And Nola had no margin for error, either. The Phillies scored in the fifth inning on Maikel Franco's leadoff homer, then not again until Williams came off the bench and broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth with a homer on the third pitch from Jays reliever Joe Biangini.
It was Williams' third pinch-hit homer of the season, and all three of given the Phillies a lead, a feat no player has accomplished in a full season since Olmedo Saenz and Mark Sweeney in 2004.
