Aaron Nola more than redeeming himself when it's mattered most

If you were under the impression that Aaron Nola cost himself some free-agent money this summer, well, he's earned it back this fall.

Nola picked the perfect time to have his best month-long stretch of 2023. He lowered his home playoff ERA to 1.57 in five starts at Citizens Bank Park after shutting the Diamondbacks down over six innings of a 10-0 Phillies win in Game 2 of the NLCS.

The Phillies were the far superior team Tuesday night, but the game wasn't lopsided until the bottom of the sixth. They needed all six of the goose eggs Nola produced.

He has a 1.44 ERA over his last five starts. The Phillies have won all five. They're 6-2 behind Nola the last two postseasons.

"It's not going to be every day, but the way that these guys are throwing the ball right now, it's been fantastic," catcher J.T. Realmuto said of the Phillies' pitching staff, which has a ridiculous 1.39 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in 71 innings this postseason.

"It makes our jobs a lot easier, and hopefully as we keep going through this, we can make their jobs a little bit easier, too, with scoring some runs."

The Phillies scored a whole boatload of runs on Tuesday night — one in the first inning, one in the third, four in the sixth and four in the seventh.

Nola didn't require much support. He allowed only three hits and dealt with multiple runners on base once all night, with two outs in the fourth inning.

He's on a roll. He made a mechanical adjustment in early September to keep his shoulders more square to the plate. He felt he was yanking too many pitches. The change has resulted in improved command. Nola isn't giving up homers, he isn't allowing stolen bases and he's barely had to worry about minimizing damage lately because so few runners have been on base.

"Obviously, this year has been inconsistent," he said. "Some good starts, some bad starts, just kind of up and down the whole year. But I definitely feel a lot better with my delivery now, trying to simplify it, not move too quick, and slow things down."

One other recent adjustment for Nola has been the slide step with runners on base. He had not tried it for at least five years. He reincorporated it around the All-Star break and ramped up its usage in September. It has helped him substantially in the running game. Nola, with long arms, long legs and a long delivery, has had problems holding runners on throughout his career. He was previously uninterested in turning back to a slide step because he felt that it negatively affected his stuff and mechanics. That hasn't been the case the last two months. In fact, beyond helping control runners, the slide step has also disrupted the timing of the hitter at the plate.

"After 2015, I incorporated it kind of in my regular delivery and it kind of messed my mechanics up a little bit," he said. "I tried to be too quick to the plate and ended up kind of hurting myself, hurting my arm.

"In 2017, that next year after I rehabbed, I just kind of went to a traditional slide step every now and again. After that year, I just told myself I was going to focus on holding runners on and cut out the slide step. I felt like I could get better at holding the ball a lot, picking over, working on my pick-off move, and just kind of messing up their timing and keeping them close to first base.

"I feel like once the pitch clock came, it made things a little more challenging because those years I really did rely on holding the ball a lot and picking over a lot. So obviously, guys are stealing and bases are bigger, and I knew I could incorporate what I used to do back in 2017. I just had to do it and get comfortable with it again."

Nola ran out of gas in his final three postseason starts a year ago but has been a rock otherwise, a big-game pitcher who has maintained velocity, command and sharpness in October despite averaging 199 innings over the last five non-shortened regular seasons.

He started once in last year's NLCS, Game 2 against the Padres, and allowed six runs in 4⅔ innings, his worst playoff start.

"I felt good last year in the NLCS, they just kind of got me on some pitches," he said. "But obviously, this one's a lot more fun, 2-0 going into Arizona."

There is still a ways to go in the series, but the Diamondbacks have looked happy to be in this situation, while the Phillies look like a team that expects to occupy parade floats in three weeks.

Nola, the longest-tenured Phillie, played on teams that lost 99, 96 and 91 games his first three years in the major leagues. Some of his teammates from those early years are best remembered as answers to trivia questions or players to use on an Immaculate Grid for rarity points.

It's a much different atmosphere in South Philly these days.

"I knew it. I knew it was going to happen eventually," he said. "We signed Bryce (Harper), and when you sign a guy like that, you're not really looking to rebuild anymore. We brought in J.T., we started adding the pieces, coming together.

"It's a good group. We kept making those baby steps and finally got to where we wanted to get last year but came up short. We kind of expected to do the same this year, I feel like we have a better team with some better additions. But it's pretty much the same squad, and I feel like that's helped out a lot with the relationships we've formed already and the chemistry we have together. We pull for each other."

Nola said earlier this week that he'd love to return to the Phillies. He becomes a free agent five days after the World Series ends. Plenty of teams will be after him. The Cardinals and Dodgers need starting pitching badly and Nola will be one of the top two or three arms on the market. His next contract will exceed nine figures. It could reach or surpass $150 million.

That's the price of pitching, and you can see why on nights like Tuesday.

"Their starting pitcher last night and tonight, they were both outstanding," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said of Zack Wheeler and Nola. "To get to where we have to go, we have to find a way to beat these guys."

If they even see them again. Wheeler and Nola are lined up for Games 5 and 6, but the Phillies have a chance to end this thing in four.