Aaron Nola Continues Hot Stretch As Phillies Complete Sweep Over Marlins
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Vintage Aaron Nola was on the bump for the Phillies as they finished off their second straight sweep in a row.
The past week has been nothing but great vibes from the Philadelphia Phillies, as they’ve rattled off six consecutive wins, reaching 70 wins on the season and lowering their division race for the top spot in the National League East to 4.5 games.
Pitching has been taking solid strides towards improvement; the offense is coming up clutch and adding on throughout games, and the defense has even improved.
However, while everyone has had their moments, the talk of the team has to be Aaron Nola, who is in the middle of his best stretch of pitching in over two years. Over his past five games, Nola’s posted a 2.51 ERA over 28.2 innings, with 34 strikeouts to go along with it. The Phillies have also won three of Nola’s last four starts after losing the previous six games started by Nola.
He was matched up against a familiar foe for the Phillies, Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, who’s had a successful 2026 against Philadelphia. Alcantara went into Wednesday’s contest 2-0 on the season against the Phillies, tossing 13 innings this season while only allowing two earned runs and striking out 11.
It was a battle between two of the former top pitchers in the National League, and for the Phillies’ sake, Aaron Nola was the more dominant pitcher, tossing seven innings of one-run ball, striking out eight and allowing just five hits and zero walks in the Phillies’ 4-1 win. It was also Nola’s first win at Citizens Bank Park this season.
Noles got rolling right away thanks to aggressive swings from the Marlins, sending the Fish down in order in the first and the second on only 22 pitches. Nola picked up two strikeouts in his first two innings of work, one with the changeup and one with his trusted knuckle-curve.
In the bottom half of the second, Nola got his first piece of run support thanks to four separate singles. Luis Arreaez led off the inning with a single to center, and after back-to-back outs, Brandon Marsh followed suit, putting two runners on. Justin Crawford kept the line moving, smoking a grounder back up the middle that Otto Lopez was unable to get a forceout from.
With Garrett Stubbs at the plate with the bases loaded, Stubbs did his best Crawford impression, spinning a weak ground ball to the left side, beating the throw from Lopez at first for the first run of the game.
One run was all the Phillies could muster in the second, but thankfully, their starting pitcher kept chugging along. Nola struck out the first two batters in the third before allowing a single to Javier Sanoja for the first Marlins base-runner of the game. However, Nola worked around it, getting Jakob Marsee to pop out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, the Phillies offense added to their lead, this time using the long ball. After a one-out walk from Bryce Harper, Arraez dug in and smoked a two-run home run to right field.
So with a healthy 3-0 lead, Nola continued to settle in, working through a single in the fourth and sending Miami down in order in the fifth. His pitch count was also in a fantastic spot, needing just 64 pitches to get the first 15 outs of the game.
However, once he entered the sixth, Nola’s struggle inning finally showed up. Sanoja, who singled back in the third inning, smoked a 2-2 sinker into the left-field seats for the Marlins’ first run of the night. The hits didn’t stop there as Lopez and Xavier Edwards found holes for back-to-back singles, putting two runners on with just one out.
After a meeting at the mound, Nola needed two outs to avoid giving up the lead. Griffin Conine was up first, and Nola made quick work of him for a much-needed strikeout. Heriberto Hernández dug in with two outs, and on the fourth pitch of his at-bat, Nola sent him back to the dugout on a nasty knuckle-curve to get out of the jam.
With his pitch count still low, the Phillies opted to save some of their bullpen arms and sent Nola out for the seventh inning for just the third time all season. The first two outs of the inning weren’t easy, as both balls were smoked off the bat, but thankfully found gloves in the outfield.
With Joe Mack at the plate, Nola battled with the Marlins catcher, and on his 100th pitch of the night, he sent Mack down on strikes for his eighth strikeout of the inning, ending his night. Nola finished his evening with seven innings of one-run ball, tying his season-long for an outing, along with eight strikeouts. Nola also allowed just five hits and walked none for the first time since his last seven-inning outing back on July 5. His outing also consisted of no full counts and just one three-ball count.
Leading by two runs, the Phillies added another thanks to an RBI double from Trea Turner. Originally, it was ruled that Kyle Schwarber was out at home, but after a review, it showed that Schwarber got his hand in before the tag, scoring the run.
With six outs left, the Phillies turned to Jonathan Bowlan for the first three, however, like his previous outing, Bowlan struggled. Sanoja singled to lead off the inning, and Lopez walked with one out. After a circus-jumping catch from Marsh for one out, Bowlan struck out Conine to end the inning.
In the ninth, Jhoan Duran came on for his 28th save of the season, and after allowing a leadoff single, Duran locked in, picking up the final three outs, securing the second straight sweep for the Phillies.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has written and edited for the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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