PHILADELPHIA _ Aaron Nola left the Phillies dugout Saturday night and walked toward the mound to begin the final start of a season where he emerged as one of baseball's elite pitchers. The team's epic collapse over the last two months may have soured what Nola had done this season, but at least a 3-0 win over the Braves could be chance to savor Nola independent of what collapsed around him.
And then Nola's teammates followed him from the dugout. The left fielder � Dylan Cozens � went to right field and the right fielder _ Odubel Herrera _ went to left field. The Phillies began their penultimate game of the season by lining up in the wrong positions.
Cozens and Herrera switched to their right places and Nola's final start could begin. He pitched seven shutout innings. The Phillies finally won. It was one more night to appreciate Nola before the team goes their separate ways. But it would be impossible to focus on Nola without noticing the collapse around him.
The Phillies scored three times in the seventh inning, which was enough to ensure that the Phillies will not be the first team National League team since 1937 to end the season with a double-digit losing streak.
Their nine-game losing streak snapped on a two-run single by Cesar Hernandez. Herrera tacked on another with a fielder's choice. Hector Neris, who turned around his season just as the team was collapsing, pitched a perfect eighth. Seranthony Dominguez finished the ninth. After a troubling two months, the Phillies finally provided something to cheer about. A win on Sunday and the Phillies would still finish with just eight wins in September, their worst final month of a season since 1941.
Nola struck out eight batters, allowed two hits, and walked four. He finished his season with a 2.37 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 2121/3 innings. He joins Curt Schilling just the second pitcher in franchise history to log 200 or more innings with a strikeout-per-nine ratio better than 9.4.
Grover Cleveland Alexander is the only other Phillies pitcher to strikeout 200 batters and hold opponents to a batting average of .200 or lower. Nola was one of maybe a handful of Phillies who clearly improved in 2018. Nola, just as he was on Saturday, was excellent. And it is a shame that his season will not be tested in October.
But the Phillies _ from Matt Klentak to Gabe Kapler to Rhys Hoskins _ are adamant that they will grow from this collapse. If they do, an alignment miscue will be a bit more forgivable. But more importantly, the Phillies will have an elite pitcher waiting to guide them into the postseason.
