September 09, 2025
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Aaron Nola struck out seven in six shutout innings against the Mets on Monday night.
Rob Thomson had Tanner Banks ready to go in the bullpen at the first sign of trouble.
But the Phillies manager never needed to make the call. Aaron Nola kept it all under control.
The veteran right-hander had already mowed through five scoreless innings Monday night at Citizens Bank Park to begin a pivotal four-game series against the New York Mets for the National League East race. Enough confidence was there from Thomson to send Nola back out for a sixth, even against the heart of the Mets' order and with the Phillies hanging on to a narrow 1-0 lead.
He rewarded the faith, though.
Nola struck out Juan Soto swinging on four pitches, had Pete Alonso fly out on another four, then fanned Brandon Nimmo on a 1-2 sinker to walk back to the Phillies' dugout with a clean 1-2-3 inning and to a standing ovation from the South Philly crowd.
Nola had made it through six shutout frames, punching out seven in total while allowing just three hits and two walks to finally hand the game over to the bullpen and eventually Jhoan Duran, who took care of the ninth in a big 1-0 Phillies win over their competing division rival.
The season hasn't been kind to Nola, through injury and struggle. The matchup against the Mets hasn't been kind to the Phillies on the whole this year, and in the past couple of days, neither has health, with key bats Trea Turner (hamstring) and Alec Bohm (shoulder) both going on the Injured List ahead of Monday night.
Nola needed a start like that. The Phillies needed a win like that. Getting both now was huge.
"He just threw so well tonight," Thomson said of Nola postgame (via NBC Sports Philadelphia). "He kept the ball down, he was attacking the zone a lot more, a lot of changeups, a lot more changeups than he's been throwing in the past, and the curveball was sharp. I thought he was really good."
By far the best he's looked since returning from a stress fracture in his ribs last month, and maybe the best he's had all season.
Out of the gate on Monday night, Nola had clear control of his command and much greater success in getting his breaking pitches low in the zone to deceive the Mets' hitters.
Just as important, he didn't let any early missteps snowball this time, which had been burying him and the Phillies in the early innings of his previous starts.
Nola let up a one-out walk to Soto in the first inning after a seven-pitch battle, but left it at that, effectively using the next eight pitches to strike out Alonso and then get Nimmo to fly out to end the frame without any damage.
In the second, singles from New York's Jeff McNeil and Brett Baty put runners at the corners, but Nola stranded them with bookend strikeouts of Francisco Alvarez and Cedric Mullens.
Alonso doubled with two outs in the third. Nola answered with another strikeout of Nimmo looking.
He was dominant, in a way that he just hasn't been able to be this year, but just as well for the Phillies that he could manage it on Monday night.
They needed that. He needed that.
"I hadn't had a game like this in quite some time," Nola said from the clubhouse (again via NBC Sports Philadelphia) "But I'll leave it at I put the team in a good position to win, threw some zeroes up there, and the bullpen came in and did their job.
"Duran had some big pitches out there in the ninth, and being able to stretch that one run against these guys and hold them, it's big."
With three more bigger nights coming up as October only draws closer.
SIGN UP HERE to receive the PhillyVoice Sports newsletter
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Follow Nick on Bluesky: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
