NEW YORK -- It’s difficult to imagine a successful Phillies postseason without Jesús Luzardo.
He’s been their best pitcher for months.
Luzardo is on the 15-day injured list with inflammation in his left shoulder, and nobody knows when he will pitch again. It’s a concern with Game 1 of a potential National League Wild Card Series less than two weeks away.
It made Aaron Nola's effort in Thursday night’s 3-0 victory over the Mets at Citi Field feel incredibly important. Because if Luzardo isn’t ready in two weeks, Nola’s role on this team is magnified. In a best-of-three NL Wild Card Series, the Phillies line up Luzardo, Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler to pitch, if everybody is healthy and rested.
Now, Nola would start one of those games.
“I think it's important no matter what, right?” Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs said about Nola’s late-season success. “Obviously, being down Zeus amplifies every single start a little bit more. So yeah, to be able to go out there and do what he did today …”
Nola allowed three hits in seven scoreless innings, helping the Phillies pull even with the Cubs for the No. 1 NL Wild Card spot with nine games to play. Chicago holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. San Diego is a game behind both teams.
“Now you just kind of count on him doing that,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said about Nola. “It’s gotten to that point, you know?”
Nola carried a no-hitter into the sixth, when Nick Morabito hit a one-out single to left field. The last time Nola went that far without allowing a hit was Sept. 26, 2025, against the Twins (5 2/3 innings).
It’s been an impressive few months for Nola. Remember where he was not too long ago. Nola allowed eight runs in 4 1/3 innings against the Pirates on June 29. He left Citizens Bank Park that day with a 3-5 record and a 6.04 ERA.
It was the continuation of a troubling trend. He was 8-15 with a 6.02 ERA in 34 starts since the beginning of the 2025 season. It was fair to ask if the right-hander’s workload had caught up to him.
After all, he had thrown 1,264 2/3 innings from 2018-24, the most in baseball.
But then Nola allowed three runs in seven innings on July 5 in Kansas City.
It proved to be a stepping stone to better things.
Nola has a 2.92 ERA in his past 14 starts, including allowing two earned runs or fewer in eight straight starts, over which he has a 1.86 ERA.
It’s his lowest ERA in an eight-start span since he had a 1.70 ERA from July 14-Aug. 28, 2018.
“I think just mixing well and throwing all the pitches for strikes, and just trying to keep everything sharp and [my] delivery sharp,” Nola said about his turnaround. “Just taking it hitter by hitter and game by game. Try not to be too perfect with my pitches, make sure my weeks are good, my body's healthy, the bullpen sessions are good and just to be prepared as best as I can going into each start.”
Nola walked Juan Soto with one out in the first inning, then picked him off. He struck out Bo Bichette looking on a 2-2 sinker to end the inning. He walked Soto again in the fourth, then got Bichette to ground into an inning-ending double play.
After Nola allowed the single to Morabito to put runners on first and second in the sixth, he got Francisco Lindor to hit into another inning-ending double play.
“We’re just seeing the pitcher that Aaron Nola always can be,” Stubbs said. “We're just getting the best out of who he is, and I think maybe we lost that for a second. Or he did, or we did, whatever. It's just sometimes you need some help finding it again. But to me, it's vintage Aaron Nola. He’s using all of his pitches. He's leaning on his strengths, which are really, really good; really, really strong strengths.”
The Phillies are stronger with Luzardo, of course. Everybody knows it. But even so, it’s a boost knowing that Nola is pitching so well. Because if they want to take a run at the World Series, they will need four starters at some point.
They will need Nola.
“We really hope [Luzardo] can come back healthy and quick,” Nola said. “We really need him. But you know, all the starters here, we're just trying to take it game by game and make sure we're healthy and do everything we can to put the team in a good chance to win.”