Nola Moves to Second in Phillies All-Time Strikeout List during 3-1 Win over Twins

Winding down the season, the Phillies hosted the Twins Friday night for the first game of their last regular season series. Aaron Nola, who is not expected to start in the NLDS, took the mound for the Phillies against a Twins team that will not play in October.

The Phillies relied on “vintage Nola” to get them as deep in the game as possible, and he did just that. With strikeout #1,872 Nola passed Robin Roberts and moved into second place on the all-time Phillies strikeout list. He also earned himself a win with the help of the Phillies middle of the lineup—which has displayed some solid at-bats lately. Nola, only allowing one run, and the offense providing three gave the Phils a 3-1 Friday night victory.

There was no possible better start for Nola than his first few innings. The 6.18 ERA pitcher had not allowed a base runner through 5.2 innings before giving up a solo home run. It would be the only run the Twins scored.

Some early small ball got the Phils on the board in the first inning but it wasn’t the top of the order that continued the offense. A pair of singles from the lefty sluggers, Harper and Schwarber, gave Alec Bohm an RBI opportunity. He seized it with a line-drive sac-fly to right field, giving the Phillies a 1-0 lead.

Steady offense throughout the rest of the game lengthened the Phillies lead in the middle innings. Edmundo Sosa jacked—yet another—home run in the fifth.

In the following frame the middle of the lineup strung together a few hits and tacked on another run to give Nola a two run lead.

The whole lineup got active in today’s win; 2/3 of the starting nine had hits and Sosa, who anchors the bottom of the line up, had yet another multi-hit game.

With Turner’s eventual return, Sosa may not be getting a starting job in the postseason but he certainly will provide a valuable bench bat.

Former Phillie Kody Clemens did his best job to pressure Nola into giving up his lead but Nola’s composure reigned supreme. Clemens led the seventh off with a triple and Nola found three outs without allowing Clemens to cross home plate.

Nola sent Ryan Jeffers down swinging with a high fastball. Got Trevor Larnach down looking with his trademark two-seam—which may be unhittable—and a pop out to left to end the inning.

It was every bit of the vintage Nola that the Phillies have been needing going into October.

His final stat line was 8 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, and 9 Ks. He was unbelievable.

Nola really makes you question where his blow-up starts come from.

Rob Thomson handed the ninth inning to struggling lockdown reliever Jhoan Duran. Despite a lead-off single, Duran earned himself a two-strikeout save.

Still in fighting for the #1 seed in the NL side of the playoffs, the Phillies earned a 3-1 victory with much help from their former-ace Aaron Nola. If the Reds win, the Phillies will still have a chance at the #1 seed.

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