Phillies beat Nationals 11-9, but Aaron Nola struggles in first start in three months

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 17, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — At 11:15 a.m. ET Sunday, Aaron Nola stepped out of the dugout and into the sunlight. And as he walked to the bullpen, a section of early-bird Phillies fans cheered.

They hadn’t seen him in a while.

But there wasn’t much time to get reacquainted. Despite being staked to a six-run lead in his first start in 95 days, Nola gave it all away in a seven-batter span of the third inning before getting replaced.

Welcome back. Now, get KO’d in your shortest non-rain-abbreviated start — 2 1/3 innings — in four years.

Sure, the Phillies rallied for an 11-9 victory, scoring five runs against the last-place Nationals’ putrid bullpen and surviving a three-run rally in the ninth that brought the tying run to the plate and forced manager Rob Thomson to use closer Jhoan Duran.

But a day after placing Zack Wheeler on the injured list with a blood clot, of all things, near his right shoulder, they were hoping for more from Nola in his long-awaited return from a sprained right ankle and fractured right rib.

“Scattered a couple hits and just kind of unraveled there a little bit,” Nola said. “I just had trouble stopping it and getting them to either swing and miss or hit a ball to one of our guys.”

Thomson said: “Just a lot of plate on a lot of pitches, basically, is what it was.”

Back to that momentarily. First, a a few other things:

— Alec Bohm also returned from the injured list, also from a rib fracture. He reclaimed the cleanup spot and smashed two hits, including a three-run homer in the second inning.

— Trea Turner completed a series against his former team in which he was everywhere. Literally. In 19 plate appearances in four games, he reached base 13 times (10 hits, one walk, one error, one hit by pitch).

— Nick Castellanos snapped a 1 for 35 malaise with a double in the fourth inning and a solo homer in the sixth.

— Pitching for the first time since taking a line drive off his right ankle and getting driven off the field in a bullpen cart, Duran got Dylan Crews to ground out on the ninth pitch of the at-bat before striking out pinch-hitting Nationals star James Wood on a 102 mph heater to end a 3-hour, 22-minute marathon.

Oh, and the Phillies (71-53) concluded their longest road trip of the season with a 6-4 record and went home with a 5 1/2-game lead in the National League East.

“I’m really proud of this group,” Thomson said. “On this 10-day road trip, we go 6-4, but there were a lot of things that could have gone sideways on us, with travel [changes] and rain delays and things like that. And they held up. They answered, so that was good to see.”

Got all that? OK, now let’s talk about Nola.

Here’s the peculiar thing: Nola retired seven of the first eight batters, albeit with the Nationals resting Wood and veteran first baseman Josh Bell for the 11:35 a.m. series finale. He struck out Paul DeJong and Dylan Crews on late-breaking curveballs, always a good sign for Nola.

Then, suddenly, he couldn’t get anybody out.

It started innocently enough with a one-out single by No. 9-hitting rookie Robert Hassell III. And then: single, single, walk, single, double, double.

And after that second double, a gap-splitter to right-center by José Tena, Thomson went to the mound and took the ball from Nola.

“They capitalized on some pitches,” Nola said. “Threw a couple over the plate, I think. And I think a few of them I didn’t get to the spot that I needed to, and they capitalized on them.”

Maybe it was rust, although Nola did make three Triple-A tune-up starts, including 85 pitches last Tuesday. Thomson had a different theory.

“I wouldn’t attribute it to rust necessarily, but it was the first time he’s going on regular [four days’] rest,” he said. “Just didn’t execute pitches.”

Nola will get an extra day of rest this week. His next start is scheduled for Saturday at home — against the Nationals again. He said he didn’t have issues with his ankle or rib. He said his arm, presumably as fresh as it has ever been in mid-August, felt strong.

Maybe, then, Nola gets a mulligan for his first start back.

Now more than ever, though, the Phillies need him to get back to being a rotation pillar. Wheeler will undergo more tests Monday in Philadelphia. The team should have more answers this week about his prognosis.

It’s convenient that Nola returned as Wheeler departs. But he must do more than eat innings or pick up slack behind emerging ace Cristopher Sánchez and alongside mid-rotation lefties Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo.

“My body felt good,” Nola said. “My ankle felt good, rib. Everything felt really good. I think the more I’m out there, the more my velocity will kick, the more I keep feeling better.”

The Phillies are counting on it.