Aaron Nola Struggles as Phillies Offense Goes Quiet In Loss to Guardians
May 9, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber (12) looks back at umpire Chris Segal (96) after striking out in the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images
Fresh off of a series sweep in Tampa and winning 8 of their last 10, there was room to start to get romantic about how the Phillies have been playing lately. We all know in our heads that the Phillies won’t play .800 baseball all season, but don’t tell our hearts that.
The Phils brought out Aaron Nola to take on Gavin Williams in the series opener at Progressive Field. There was reason to be cautiously optimistic. Though Nola has been off and on all season, Williams has been less than stellar and not missing many barrels; he has an alarming AB/barrel ratio of 6.8 at-bats per barreled-up ball, and 13% walk percentage. With the Phils’ offense hitting the ball as well as they have been, and in clutch situations, spirits were high starting the game.
The game started with Nola and Williams trading zeros through the first 3 innings. The defense of both teams was very strong, and it looked like this was going to be a pitcher’s duel. Even though the pitch counts for both pitchers were a little high through three, it still had that feeling that the first run was going to be important.
The defense looked great, including an incredible throw from Nick Castellanos to hose Carlos Santana trying to advance to third.
When the 4th started, the heart of the Guardians’ lineup, Jose Ramirez and Santana, both had weak contact, but in the next AB, Kyle Manzardo hit a lazy fastball from Nola into center field for a home run, giving Cleveland the important early lead. This didn’t feel like an insurmountable lead, especially after last night’s comeback win.
The bottom of the 5th was more of the same. Nola walked Gabriel Arias, and 2 batters later gave up a towering home run to Angel Martinez to make the score 3-0, and it was obvious this rattled Nola. He didn’t have the same bite on his pitches that he had earlier in the game. He never had the fastball velocity he had in his dominant starts, but he battled early on. Steven Kwan singled off Nola, Daniel Schneemann singled, and then Ramirez singled to load the bases. Santana came up next and grounded out to Trea Turner, but another run came across to make it 4-0. After striking Manzardo out, Nola left the mound visibly disappointed.
Williams only went 5 innings, and Guardians manager Stephen Vogt went to his bullpen because of Williams’ pitch count, and the team was rested after a day off yesterday. But there was more of the same for the offense. Kyle Schwarber walked and was immediately erased on a double play, so there was no traffic like we’ve seen in the last 2 series. Tanner Banks came out to throw a perfect inning in the 6th to stop the Guardians’ offensive momentum.
In the bottom of the 7th, Joe Ross came out and though he had pitched well all season so far. Martinez welcomed him with a double, Kwan moved him over to third, and Schneeman hit a slow roller to Bryce Harper, who could only get the out at first, scoring Martinez and making the game 5-0. Ramirez wanted in on the scoring and hit a home run to right. The pitch just before Ramirez pulled it, and it just went foul about the same distance. Ross did him a favor by throwing him a curveball that was up in the zone, and he kept that one fair.
In the 8th and 9th, the Phillies looked even more lethargic than earlier in the game.
The Phillies were 0-8 with runners in scoring position, which has been something they had done very well in the previous series. There were more strikeouts than we had gotten used to seeing in the game. The Phils got runners on base and played really good defense.
They looked tired coming into this game. Was it because they got to Cleveland at 3 AM and their opponents had the day off? Maybe.
Nola pitched well early on, but he just appeared to not have the same stuff, and another thought crossed my mind, the battery of Nola and J.T. Realmuto has an earned run average of 2.49, and when Nola pitches to Rafael Marchan, he had a 7.47 ERA going in. I don’t think the catcher affects Nola’s pitches, but this is something that jumped off the page at me.
The velocity is the key here; Nola’s velocity is more important than it is to other pitchers. He needs to keep the pitches down. Manzardo’s home run is a perfect example — Marchan set up low, and Nola left it up. The home run ball has been his problem this season, and when he keeps the ball down in the zone, the velocity can be camouflaged a bit.
Another takeaway was the strikeouts. In the previous series, the strikeouts were not as bad as they were tonight. In Tampa, this turned around, but tonight it was a major issue. Particularly, Harper, who had 3 strikeouts. In the middle of his retool, this is not what he needs. He looked frustrated all night with an ugly strikeout in the 8th.
Castellanos did have 2 hits, though, as did Turner, but all in all, the Phils looked out of sync all night. With this loss, they fall to 9-10 on the road this season, and to compete with the Mets, they need to avoid this and start playing like they did in Tampa.
In the end, this is one loss. If the Phils can get the offense started tomorrow, this will be a blip on the radar. At least tonight they will get a full night’s sleep.
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Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
