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Aaron Nola Turning the Corner? Or Just Pitching Against the Padres?
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The Phils improved to 31-29 with a 3-2 home win against the Padres on Tuesday night. Aaron Nola went five innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits while striking out eight:
He’s gotten through his last two starts allowing fewer than three earned runs. ERA is down to 5.55. The pitch selection looks better and he’s relying on breaking balls while relying much less on the four seamer. Of course, the Padres have the worst batting average in Major League Baseball, hitting .218 this season with a .293 on-base percentage. Right at the bottom with the Phillies and Mets.
So you can craft a narrative if you want: “Nola is still Nola, he’s just facing a terrible lineup.” Maybe true, maybe not, but you have to get your confidence back somehow, someway, and facing a lineup that can’t hit the baseball is a good start. His next outing is scheduled against the Chicago White Sox, a bottom half hitting team that draws walks at a top-half rate (.238/.322/.408). That will be a decent test even without Murakami in the lineup. He’s on the 10-day IL with a hamstring issue. But they’ve got a couple of guys hitting close to .300 and we’ll see if Noles can put together three good starts in a row.
With the way the Phillies are swinging the bats, which is not well, getting Nola back into form would go a long way. Sanchez, Wheeler, Nola, Luzardo – win every game 2-1 and get John Middleton’s trophy back.
Here are Noles’ pitch type splits in 2026, from Sportradar. Click to expand:
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