Nola's strong start sets tone as Phils go to 6-1 under interim skip Mattingly

MIAMI -- So much has changed since Aaron Nola last pitched on April 26 in Atlanta.

Nola didn’t know it, but it would be Rob Thomson’s final game as manager. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski relieved Thomson of his duties two days later, naming Don Mattingly as interim manager.

A few days later, the Phillies shuffled the rotation to split up left-handers Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo and provide Nola two extra days of rest -- seven days in all -- giving Nola more time to work on whatever’s been troubling him.

Nola pitched six scoreless innings in his first start since the managerial change in Monday night’s 1-0 victory over the Marlins at loanDepot park, helping the Phillies win the four-game series and pushing them to 6-1 under Mattingly.

Bryce Harper’s solo homer in the third inning was the game’s only run.

“I think we were all just waiting for that ball to drop, waiting for something to happen,” Harper said afterward. “If Topper was going to get fired or he wasn’t, it was just kind of, 'We need to get over this hump and get through this,' whatever that looked like. So as a team, I think it’s just coming out, playing our game, understanding that we didn’t play well the first couple weeks of the season. April’s behind us. We’ve got to step forward and understand that we’re stacking days and playing better and just keep it going, no matter where we’re at, what’s happening in the game or anything. Just stack the days and be where we want to be at the end.”

Everything starts with starting pitching. Nola entered the game 1-3 with a 6.03 ERA.

“I hadn’t been doing my job much this year,” he said.

But Nola allowed five hits and no walks and struck out five against Miami. He worked well with Garrett Stubbs, who caught two runners attempting to steal for the first time in his career.

“We were talking about [Greg] Maddux and the way he pitched,” Mattingly said. “And that was a masterclass tonight of changing speeds, keeping guys off balance, you know, doing whatever he had to do. Pitching backwards a little bit, the breaking ball, the changeup, spotting the heater. That’s the way you look at Aaron and what he’s capable of doing.”

Nola’s stuff was up a tick against the Marlins. His four-seam fastball averaged 92.4 mph, up 0.8 mph from his season average. It touched 94.3 mph.

Maybe the extra rest helped, although Mattingly and Nola dismissed the suggestion. But it was only the second time in Nola’s career that he had this much rest between starts, not including extended breaks because of the All-Star Game, injuries or the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

It last happened from June 5-13, 2024, coincidentally, after Nola’s last start in which he pitched at least six scoreless innings without walking a batter.

Nola won’t get seven days of rest again anytime soon. The schedule won’t allow it, and the Phillies need to keep their starters in line. But Mattingly said he believes he can see this version of Nola more frequently this season.

“When you get a guy that's got a lot of innings under his belt, you're going to lose some velo,” Mattingly said. “He’s not going to be the guy that has as much separation. He's just gonna have to pitch. And he always pitches, but he's gonna really mix. ... Honestly, in today's game, there's so much power, guys really don't deal with that as well as a guy that can really mix. Tonight, he kept [Otto] Lopez off balance all night. He’s been swinging the bat really well. He’s using the breaking ball, he's using the changeup, he's running the ball, he’s spotting the heater. Those are tough at-bats, if you get a guy that can do that and with strikes and not missing and getting behind the count.”

Phillies starters have a 1.85 ERA (eight earned runs in 39 innings) in seven games under Mattingly, including an opener in Game 2 of Thursday’s doubleheader. If they keep pitching like this, the Phils can chip away at their 15-20 record.

“I talked about it right away, when all this stuff went down,” Mattingly said. “I felt like we were starting to go. I felt like the last game in Chicago [on April 23], you saw the battle and the fight. Atlanta, we played good. We lose, but we could have won two of those games in Atlanta. And so, you saw it coming. And it's pretty comfortable with, you know, we have talent. We’ve got a good team. And we knew we had a good team. It was just a matter of getting it going.”