Aaron Nola said after his last start on Friday in St. Louis that he needed to get back to throwing strike one and recording out one. He had been falling behind too many hitters and at Busch Stadium he was in the stretch repeatedly from putting the leadoff man on base in four of five innings.
Nola threw a higher rate of first-pitch strikes on Wednesday night but nothing else was improved as he walked four, allowed seven runs over 5⅓ innings and fell to 0-4 with a 6.65 ERA. Nola had never been 0-3 before, much less 0-4.
His fastball velocity was down even farther to 90.4 mph. Nola’s season average is 91.4 and his career average is 92.8. There’s a big difference between sitting 89-91 and sitting 92-94. Granted, it was a frigid night at Citizens Bank Park, neither starting pitcher seemed to have a feel for the ball early and Nola’s velocity has always increased as temperatures have warmed, but this has to be a growing concern for the Phillies. Nola is under contract through the end of 2030, making just over $24.5 million annually. It’s too early to be worrying about a potential decline phase setting in.
“Definitely the worst start (to a season) I’ve ever had by far,” Nola said. “All I can do is keep working and keep trying to have good weeks and compete.”
As most baseball fans know and dislike being reminded, it’s still early. Nola struggled in April in 2017, 2019 and 2023 and was much better the rest of the way all three years. His fastball velocity last April was similar to what it has been this April and he averaged 92.8 after May 1. The Phillies are certainly hoping history repeats itself in that regard.
The Giants jumped Nola for four runs in the top of the first. He walked in one of the runs and left-hander Robbie Ray returned the favor by walking in two himself. The Phillies made Ray throw nearly 40 pitches in the bottom of the first but managed just those two runs.
This was the second consecutive start Nola walked in a run. He’d done it just once in his career prior.
“It drives me crazy,” he said. “It’s unacceptable. Three times in my career I’ve done that and two times in the past two games. I’ve just got to get ahead better. Too many free passes and usually those runs have been scoring. Just making it harder on myself in those situations. Eight walks in two games, it’s not good. I’ll clean it up.”
They scored twice more on a two-run homer in the fourth inning from Bryce Harper but that was it. The Phillies had another brutal night with runners in scoring position going 1-for-9 in the 11-4 loss. They’re 7-for-59 with RISP over their last seven games, a .119 batting average.
Harper is locked in, at least. He said Sunday in St. Louis that a week earlier, he told hitting coach Kevin Long to give him 10 days and he’d be where he needed to be at the plate. Harper narrowly missed a bomb to left-center field that afternoon at Busch Stadium, hitting a ball 394 feet that would have been out in nine of 30 stadiums. It was a flyout to the warning track and the Phillies went homerless in the series.
Wednesday night was the 10th day, and on the 10th day, Harper delivered — not that he hadn’t along the way. He walked twice, hit a game-tying homer in the fourth and singled to bring up the tying run in the sixth.
Other Phillies highlights were few and far between. It always feels uglier when you walk the yard and the Phils walked nine Giants. Joe Ross was hit hard in the seventh inning, allowing four runs as his ERA ballooned to 9.39. Carlos Hernandez walked three, threw 41 pitches in the eighth and ninth and might be a roster casualty Thursday if the Phillies need a fresh arm.
The Phils are 10-8 and have lost six of nine games. They need a win on Thursday afternoon to avoid dropping their third consecutive series and turn to Cristopher Sanchez, who was a double-play machine his last time out.
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