No 9th-inning magic for Phils this time after Nola coughs up 5-run lead 

PHILADELPHIA -- Aaron Nola made the 302nd start of his Phillies career on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Only Hall of Famers Steve Carlton (499) and Robin Roberts (472) started more.

Nola will join them on the Phillies’ Wall of Fame one day, but his last 34 starts over the past two seasons have been troubling. Nola has a 6.02 ERA in that span, following the eight runs (seven earned) he allowed in 4 1/3 innings in Monday’s 11-7 loss to the Pirates.

Once one of baseball’s most reliable, durable pitchers, Nola, who surrendered a five-run lead, is struggling to reach the sixth inning.

“I definitely haven't really had a stretch like this ever in my career,” Nola said. “I mean, over my career, I feel like I've been kind of an innings eater since I've been with the Phillies. It’s been tough, you know? I mean, I haven’t really stepped foot in the sixth inning too much this year. It's a little bit different, but I’ve got to keep working. I believe I can get back to that point.”

Nola’s continued struggles figure to complicate the Phillies’ approach to the Aug. 3 MLB Trade Deadline. They have holes to fill, but only so many prospects to trade. It would be nice to focus on a right-handed bat and a high-leverage reliever, but the Phillies need more from the back of their rotation, too. They have a top-tier starting-pitching trio with Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo, but with Andrew Painter recently demoted to Triple-A, the Phillies find themselves running short with the final two spots.

They needed Nola to pitch deep into Monday’s game to save a weary bullpen, but he could not.

“We have been in there a little bit more than you’d want to be,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said.

Nola has not pitched more than 6 1/3 innings in a game this season. In fact, he has faced only 19 batters in the sixth inning or later. And only 4.8 percent of his pitches have come in the sixth inning or later. To put that into perspective, Nola had never thrown fewer than 14.9 percent of his pitches in the sixth or later in any season. At his peak from 2017-24, when he led MLB with 1,432 2/3 innings, 20.9 percent of his pitches came in the sixth or later.

Good starting pitching wins. Everybody knows it. More than anything, it has fueled the Phillies’ resurgence in the National League East. Phillies starters had an MLB-worst 5.80 ERA during their 9-19 start through April 26, which cost former manager Rob Thomson his job. From April 28 through Sunday, the Phillies’ rotation ranked third in baseball with a 3.34 ERA, creeping within three games of the Braves in the division.

The Phillies spotted Nola a 5-0 lead with solo home runs from Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh in the first inning and Kyle Schwarber’s sacrifice fly and Bryce Harper’s two-run homer in the third inning.

It was Harper’s 20th homer of the season.

Nola looked good early, generating plenty of swings and misses. But he allowed a two-run homer to Esmerlyn Valdez in the fourth to cut the lead to 5-2. Jared Triolo hit a solo homer to ignite a six-run rally in the fifth.

Nola left with the score tied, the bases loaded and one out. All three runs scored to give Pittsburgh an 8-5 lead.

“It just sped up on him quite a bit there,” J.T. Realmuto said. “The stuff diminished quite a bit. It was kind of a tough spot because of where our bullpen was at and how many innings they’ve thrown recently. I think he probably got left out there a little longer than he normally would have in that situation. You could just tell he got a little tired.”

Nola’s 23 swings and misses were the second-most in his career. He got a career-high 26 on May 8, 2018, his lone All-Star season. Gerrit Cole is the last pitcher to get 23 or more whiffs in a game and allow eight or more runs. He did it on July 29, 2021.

“Honestly, early in that game, I thought he was going to roll,” Mattingly said. “And then just got sideways. I’m not quite sure what happened. But his stuff at the beginning of the game, I’m like, 'This is electric tonight.'”

Nola didn’t want to hear it.

“I didn’t really do well with the lead I got,” he said. “I mean [23] swings and misses, it doesn’t really matter, you know?”