Calm, cool Nola ices Braves
PHILADELPHIA » A game that seemed in danger from the start had been taken over by Aaron Nola’s spirit through the rest of the evening, and now here he was, protecting a one-run lead, trying to fend off a little weariness against a hungry Braves team.
And here came Gabe Kapler. Only one reason why a manager who instantly gained a rep around here for hitting his bullpen high and heavy would be walking Nola’s way in this situation, yes? No? “I kind of knew he wasn’t going to take me out,” Nola said Friday night after he set the Phillies up for a 7-3 beating of the Braves at Citizens Bank Park. “He said he liked the matchup between me and (Ender) Inciarte, and he asked me if I felt good, and I said yeah.
“In those situations I feel we like to be in them. Crowd’s into it, we’ve got two outs, a guy in scoring position . ... They like me in those positions, especially when the crowd’s loud. It was fun.”
It turned out to be a hoot for Nola, who had given up three singles — including one each to the two previous batters — in a seventh inning in which he’d already been bailed once via a double play. Now with two gone and Ryan Flaherty on second looking like a tying run, Nola’s pitch count was nearing triple digits as lefty leadoff hitter Inciarte stepped in.
He could change the game or at least force the Phils to go to the bullpen with his mere presence. Not this time. Not when Kapler saw the look on his pitcher’s face.
“I’ve talked a lot about Jake Arrieta’s leadership, but there’s a different kind of leadership, a leadership that doesn’t get highlighted very often,” said Kapler, who isn’t bad at post-game managerial monologues. “That’s a very cool, calm, poised, collective kind of leadership. And that’s Nola. It doesn’t matter that he gives up three (runs) in the first. He’s just the same dude. He’s going to go back out there, continue to attack the zone and never get off of his game.
“We saw it until the last moment of the game, the last pitch he delivered. He was the same guy with the same level of confidence.”
Kapler said Nola had the same peaceful yet determined vibe about him even after the Braves struck three times in the first, keyed by doubles by hot-shot hitting kids Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna Jr. That didn’t faze Nola.
“If you’re going to look to Jake’s bold, strong, powerful leadership,” Kapler said, “you’re also going to look to (Nola’s) calm, cool poised leadership. Both are special in their own way.”
He responded by blanking the Braves on just one hit from innings two through six. And that last pitch in the seventh, Nola’s 101st, was slapped toward short by Inciarte and turned into a final out by shortstop J.P. Crawford. A homer in the bottom of the seventh by catcher Jorge Alfaro and strong relief work by Tommy Hunter and Hector Neris would nail it down for Nola (3-1, 2.58) and the Phils.
And all because he gave just one look to his manager.
“You can’t count said of Nola. “Ever.” him out,” Kapler