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Rob Thomson Got it Right with the Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez Strategy
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If you’re old enough to remember the wee hours of October 6th, 2025, you’ll recall the fan response to Aaron Nola starting Game 3 was not exactly excitement after the Phils had just fallen into an 0-2 NLDS hole. The Phillies’ hopes would hinge on a guy who was banged up for most of the season and didn’t even have his best stuff when he did come back healthy at the end of the summer.
Would we get the Nola who threw eight innings of one-run ball against the Minnesota Twins on September 26th? Or would we get the Nola who conceded 10 runs in the 11.1 innings prior?
We got the former, and oh boy was it a gutsy one-hit effort from Nola, escaping a first inning jam after Brandon Marsh inexplicably dove for a centerfield ball that he couldn’t get, putting Mookie Betts on third base with one out. Nola got Teoscar Hernandez swinging, hit Freddie Freeman with a pitch, then rung up Will Smith on a nasty knuckle curve:
Two innings for Nola, one hit, three strikeouts, zero runs conceded.
In an instance of high irony, Rob Thomson pulled Nola at the start of the third to social media complaints from the same people who didn’t want Nola anywhere near the mound to begin with.
“Nola is cooking, leave him in!”
It was hard to argue, considering how good Nola looked through two, but you’re lying to yourself if you didn’t have that thought in the back of your head that he’d get popped for the backbreaking solo shot sooner rather than later. That classic fourth inning sequence where he misses on one pitch and it’s taken over the wall. Nevertheless, Topper stuck to the plan, and brought in Suarez, who promptly gave up a solo home run on his first pitch. What the hell!
But –
After that?
Suarez gave up nothing the rest of the way. He went five innings of five-hit ball, striking out four and allowing zero runs after the homer. He threw 72 pitches, 51 for strikes, and brought the Phillies comfortably into the 8th, where Orion Kerkering, Taijuan Walker, and Tanner Banks were able to finish out an 8-2 win:
Nola and Suarez were both excellent after early hiccups. Calm and composed, which has been a theme in this NLDS. It’s the starting pitching keeping this team alive. Through four games, the combination of Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, Nola, and Suarez has given up just five earned runs over 18.2 innings in three games. Six of of the Dodgers’ runs were bullpen concessions, with Matt Strahm’s mid-high fastball the difference in Game 1.
Now the Phils have Sanchez going against Tyler Glasnow in Game 4, the same Glasnow who allowed four baserunners over 1.2 innings in Game 1. Same Glasnow who allowed five runs in two innings at Citizens Bank Park back in April. Same Glasnow with a career 5.51 postseason ERA.
Don’t let the Phillies get hot. They’ve got a long way to go, but you felt the momentum shift a bit when they broke it open in the 8th inning on Wednesday night. Do the Phils carry it into Thursday night? We’re gonna find out.
Credit to Topper for outmanaging Dave Roberts in Game 3.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com