Nola helps Phillies bullpen recover
Phillies starter throws 8 innings, gives relievers much-needed rest
Had the Phillies not endured 72 hours of historically lengthy and futile baseball, manager Pete Mackanin still would’ve longed Thursday afternoon to see the old Aaron Nola emerge from two and a half months shrouded by mediocrity.
The version of Nola that Mackanin had waited so long for presented itself, and it couldn’t have come at a better team for an embattled bullpen.
Nola worked into the eighth as the Phillies won for just the 12th time in their last 51 outings, a drama-free 5-1 decision over the St. Louis Cardinals that sharply contrasted the comedy of errors that had befallen them in recent evenings.
After becoming, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first team in National League history to lose three consecutive home games in extra innings, the Phillies bullpen needed a break. Nola’s efficiency was a welcomed salve.
“I want to go nine,” Nola said.
“I want to go nine. I want to keep the bullpen in the bullpen and try to extend the game for myself as much as possible.” – Aaron Nola
“I want to keep the bullpen in the bullpen and try to extend the game for myself as much as possible.”
“That’s the Nola we’ve all come to know and love,” Mackanin said. “He was outstanding. … It’s great to see him rebound from the struggles he’s been going through. He really looked good today.”
Nola tired in the eighth, surrendering a home run to Paul DeJong and exiting with one out and one on. But to that point, he showed complete-game stuff in Mackanin’s estimation. Nola scattered four hits, two walks and a season-high eight strikeouts, peppering the zone with 74 strikes on 107 pitches.
The fastball command, with the four- and twoseamer, got him ahead of hitters in 21 of 28 at-bats. Nola aggressively dictated encounters, and in doing so played the stopper role for the Phillies’ slide.
“He attacked the hitters,” catcher Cameron Rupp said. “He got ahead. … And when you do that, that opens up so many doors with your pitch sequence, being able to pitch and get in on guys, maybe throw a purpose pitch for a ball, maybe they swing and you’re 0-2 and that opens up the outer half even bigger.
“He threw strikes, he pounded the zone, and when you do that, you’re going to have so much success. And that’s what he did his first year and a half up here.”
For a day, Nola’s success overshadows the myriad questions riddling the bullpen. Pat Neshek needed five pitches to induce a double play from Tommy Pham to end the eighth. But the all-star candidate and his manager for a second straight night couldn’t get on the same page about the conversation to extend his outing.
“I asked him to go back out,” Mackanin said. “He said he would rather not. He didn’t feel like he had it. … I would’ve liked to have sent him back out obviously because he’s been so effective. However, we have a good thing going there, and if he can only pitch one inning for us, I’ll take it. I don’t want to disrupt that. That’s one area that I don’t have to worry about.”
“We’ve been used a lot this week,” said Neshek, who offered a flat “no” when asked if Mackanin had inquired about stretching into the ninth. “I was kind of hoping that I might get a day today. But I understand the state of the bullpen. You have to suck it up and go out there.”
Luis Garcia, who Mackanin had planned to use in the ninth even had Tommy Joseph not singled home two runs in the eighth to nullify the save chance, uneventfully recorded the final three outs in lieu of Hector Neris, who Wednesday blew his third save in nine opportunities.
A bullpen that would be straining under a normal workload has been drastically overworked, and the flaws have exploded under the stress. In the Phillies’ one-win-in-14 horror stretch through Wednesday, the bullpen allowed 37 earned runs in 44 2/3 innings, an ERA of 7.46. Over the last nine games, relievers have recorded an average of 10 outs per game; they’ve been tagged with six of the 13 losses in the last two-plus weeks.
Banishing Jeanmar Gomez hasn’t alleviated the problem, nor has the introduction of Casey Fien and Hoby Milner. And that’s even with Neshek, who Mackanin last week deemed the most worthy of his bottom-dwellers for an All-Star nod, toting a 0.61 ERA, second-best in the bigs. But Neshek maintains an allergy to tossing more than one inning and remains a nonviable option for the vacuum of the closer’s role.
But when starters like Nola — joining the boost provided by rookies Ben Lively and Nick Pivetta to provide the Phillies a fifth straight quality start — work deep, the late-game quandaries are minimized.
“The starters, our job is to go as deep as we can into a game,” Nola said. “And we think about going nine every game.”
NOTES » Mark Leiter was in the clubhouse postgame and is likely to start Friday’s series-opener in Arizona. Leiter would take the rotation spot of Jerad Eickhoff, placed on the disabled list Sunday with an upper back strain. The 26-yearold righty Leiter posted a 4.74 ERA in 12 relief appearances with the Phillies this season. … Joseph and Freddy Galvis homered off Cardinals’ ace Carlos Martinez, Galvis’ solo shot staking the Phillies to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. … Odubel Herrera, who was thrown out at the plate Wednesday after running through a stop sign, produced another gaffe on the base paths when catcher Yadier Molina picked him off third in the fourth inning. Herrera did double and reach on an error — both fly balls off the glove of inept leftfielder Jose Martinez — and a walk.
“That’s the Nola we’ve all come to know and love. He was outstanding. … It’s great to see him rebound from the struggles he’s been going through. He really looked good today.” — Phillies manager Pete Mackanin