From the Delaware County Daily Times: https://tinyurl.com/s5kfpspn
PHILADELPHIA — Different year, same Aaron Nola.
The Phillies’ talented right-hander, who has been dogged by home runs throughout his career, was burned twice by the long ball in his season debut Saturday, a 5-4 loss to the Texas Rangers.
Nola’s line wasn’t terrible: five hits, three earned runs, two walks and seven strikeouts over five frames. (Yes, seven Ks.) But two of the hits left the yard — the second with a runner on base.
Perhaps it’s unfair to get upset with Nola, 32, at this point. He’s 109-89 in his MLB career with a 3.83 ERA, one of the more effective pitchers in recent Phillies history. Homers are baked-in with him. But he’s under contract at $24.7 million per year through 2030, when he’ll turn 37.
Nola always seems to cough up at least one home run. Yet for whatever reason, he often seems to receive the most tepid support from Phillies hitters.
Over the past five seasons, he has ranked far below league average in run support, including just 3½ runs per start in 2025 — a full run below the league norm.
The Phillies didn’t even produce a base hit out of the infield until the ninth inning Saturday.
Still, Nola surrendered 18 homers last season — one of the negative-tier totals in the majors — and that was with missing two months with injuries. The previous two seasons, he gave up a whopping 30 and a league-worst 32.
And guess what he did in his season debut a year ago: He grooved two home runs. Just like Saturday.
Nola didn’t serve up any meatballs while somehow pitching for Team Italy in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. (Major League Baseball is trying to expand its reach, so he qualified for Italy because his great-grandparents emigrated from there nearly a century ago. Join the club.)
In two WBC starts over nine innings, Nola went 1-0, allowing seven hits, one run and one walk while striking out 10. No homers.
It took him about 5 minutes to give up a round-tripper with the Phillies on Saturday.
“Felt pretty good, body and arm felt good,” Nola said afterward. “I think the command in the second inning got out of whack there, but felt like it came back pretty well. I threw a lot of pitches. They worked the counts pretty good. Obviously, those two pitches that those guys hit for homers were tough.
“The strikeouts were good. … But I needed to go longer and deeper into the game.”
Nola’s velocity dropped from 93-94 mph in the WBC to 90-91 in his season opener and final spring-training outing.
Both home runs by the Rangers came with two outs. The first was to Corey Seager in the first inning on a four-seamer up in the zone. The other was in the third to Jake Burger on a knuckle curve — a second-consecutive curve. It followed an 0-2 base hit by Brandon Nimmo on cutter down the middle.
“I thought he was fine,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Two (bad) pitches, really. The fastball to Seager was right at the top of the zone … and he just beat him to the spot. (Nola) probably wants the curveball to Burger back, middle of the dish and hooked it down the line.
“I thought his command for a cold day was really, really good. Spun the ball well. I thought it was a good outing.”
The weather was just as brisk for Rangers lefty Jacob Latz, who started in place of right-hander Jacob deGram, a late scratch because of neck and shoulder soreness. Latz held the Phillies hitless through four innings while striking out three and walking one.
Also, Thomson didn’t mention the pitch to Nimmo.
Nola has defended his decision to pitch in the WBC following an injury-plagued 2025 as a “stress text” for this season. How did it help?
The Phillies’ offense was just as mediocre as Nola on Saturday. Phils hitters showed flashes of life but never fully delivered.
It was just one game — the second of 162 — so no reason to panic. If Wheeler comes back healthy, Nola will drop down to at least No. 3 in the rotation. The bullpen is promising, as are rookie center fielder Justin Crawford and free-agent right fielder Adolis Garcia. Third baseman Alec Bohm is off to a hot start in a contract season.
Hopefully this year is different for the Phillies in a good way, and there are signs that it will be. It’s way too soon to tell. Saturday just felt awfully familiar with Nola and this offense.
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X and Threads at @the_defranc.