Aaron Nola is back. The Phillies' ace threw an eight-inning, four-hit, no run gem in a big win on Tuesday night in Atlanta.
"What we noticed right away was that his fastball command was as good as it's been all year long," manager Gabe Kapler said of Nola on Wednesday's 94WIP Morning Show.
"He was able to execute that ball that he starts on the outside corner of the plate to a right hander hitter and brings it back on the plate. So it looks like a ball to the hitter and comes out to be a strike. He was executing that pitch and then his curveball makes that sharp left turn, we saw that early on from the dugout. And then he just continues to get strong throughout the outing, he really did. The velocity tends to pick up as he got closer to the sixth, seventh, and eight innings. It just looked like vintage Nola, a really strong performance."
Nola (7-2, 3.44 ERA) has gone at least 7.0 innings in the last three starts, allowing just 11 combined hits and one earned run over those three starts while striking out 28. Last night, Nola threw 117 pitches over eight innings, but Kapler never had a doubt about bringing him back out for the eighth.
"There was never a moment where we felt like a bullpen move was imminent, although we did have Tommy Hunter up and warm up at one point," Kapler said. "Even when we made the decision to send him back out there in the eighth, he still looked like the right guy to go get the next two or three hitters."
The Phillies, 4.5 games back of the Braves in the NL East, have two more in Atlanta before beginning a series at the Mets.
