Aaron Nola’s season has been a grind, but his latest outing at least gave the Phillies something to hold onto.
Even in a 5-2 loss to the Royals, the veteran right-hander delivered one of his more usable starts of 2026. Nola worked seven innings, his longest outing in a season that has been full of short ones, and did it while throwing 98 pitches. For a pitcher who hadn’t reached 100 pitches in 27 straight outings, that alone stood out.
The bigger difference was how he got through the night. Nola allowed seven hits, but for the first time since June 7, he kept the ball in the park.
That ended a rough stretch of four straight games in which he gave up two home runs apiece. It was only the sixth time in 18 starts that he finished without surrendering a long ball.
He also missed more bats than he usually has this year. Nola struck out seven, which tied for the third-most he has recorded in a single outing in 2026. Just as important, he didn’t walk a batter, marking only the fifth time this season he’s done that.
The loss was Nola’s sixth of the year, and Philadelphia couldn’t back him up against Luinder Avila and the Royals’ pitching staff. But the performance still mattered.
One of the Phillies’ biggest frustrations with Nola this season has been his inability to keep games within reach and give the club a real chance to win. Against Kansas City, he did that.
That’s the version of Nola the Phillies need more often now. He’s no longer being asked to pitch like a front-line starter, but if he can settle into the role of a reliable innings-eater again, it would take pressure off a bullpen that has already been stretched thin at times this year.
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Wheeler was especially irritated by the way the selection process played out, and his frustration made sense after a seven-inning, 14-strikeout start that only sharpened the case for him. With a 2.28 ERA and the kind of workload that usually earns All-Star recognition, he has given the Phillies everything they could ask for, even if the roster rules created a technicality that kept him out of the game. [Read more 🡒]