Up and down in 2023, Nola receives huge ovation after delivering in Game 3

Five years from now. Ten years from now. Heck, maybe even 50 years from now depending on how far the Phillies play into October and potentially November, the one thing that will be remembered most about their Game 3 of the 2023 National League Division Series against the Braves will be the home runs.

Six of them, to be exact, tying a postseason record.

That’s fair. It was a big win. The Phillies had rebounded, in a way that would have made Joel Embiid proud, from what could have been a crushing loss to Atlanta in Game 2. They recaptured control of the best-of-five series. They now have two opportunities to win one game in order to advance.

Still, it would be a shame to allow the excitement and drama of all the long balls to overshadow a slightly more subtle moment engineered by starter Aaron Nola in the top of the third that could very well have been just as pivotal in what turned out to be a 10-2 romp over the team with baseball’s best regular season record.

Generations of Phillies fans will undoubtedly focus on Bryce Harper, who continued to burnish his reputation as one of the best red-light players of his generation, after he lifted the 45,798 to their feet as though attached to invisible strings. His three-run homer in the bottom of the third keyed a 6-run uprising that put the Phils ahead for good. Then he added an exclamation point with a bomb to dead center in the fifth as the defending National League champions romped against the team with the best record in the majors this year. Nick Castellanos also had two bombs.

But the set-up sequence was equally critical. Just before the Phillies began flexing their muscles, it was the Braves who threatened to break this game open early.

Nola had been sharp the first time through the order. He gave up two hits but both were the result of soft contact. One was a single that Austin Riley dumped in front of outfielders who were understandably playing deep against a guy who hit 37 home runs this season. The other was a base hit tapped so slowly toward third that Alec Bohm didn’t even attempt a throw.

With one out in the third, though, Atlanta leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled sharply to right and scored when Ozzie Albies followed with a well-struck single. Riley drilled a line drive to center that was caught by Johan Rojas for the second out, but Olson walked to put runners on first and second.

Eleven times during the regular season Nola was tagged for three or more runs in an inning. That and allowing home runs — he served up 32 of them — raised the antennae of Phillies fans everywhere.

For all the world, it felt as though this game might have reached the fork in the road.

Pitching coach Caleb Cotham visited the mound, giving his righthander a chance to regroup. Nola got two quick strikes on Marcell Ozuna. Phillies Nation exhaled. That was followed by two pitches outside the strike zone. The fans inhaled and held it.

Finally, Nola got Ozuna to chase a knuckle curve below his knees. The inning was over. The Phillies then jumped all over Braves starter Bryce Elder. And that, pretty much, was that.

“It was big. It was big,” Nola said of whiffing Atlanta's designated hitter. “I felt like if I could command my curveball, we had a good chance to get him out. So that's kind of what we talked about, what we wanted to do there. It was going to be a fastball, curveball and where we wanted it. It was pretty much that.”

Maybe it all would have unfurled the same way even if Nola had been tagged for three or four or more runs. Maybe the Phillies' bats would have bailed him out. We’ll never know. But it’s probable that, with a more comfortable cushion, Elder might have executed his pitches more confidently. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud could have approached the hitters differently. Everything that happens in baseball is informed by what preceded it.

Certainly, the Braves had to be feeling some frustration. A team that led all of baseball by averaging 5.85 runs per game during the regular season has now scored a total of seven in the first three games of the NLDS. A breakout inning there could have opened the floodgates.

“Nola’s been doing it all year,” said leftfielder Brandon Marsh. “He puts the ball wherever he wants it whenever he wants. Good things happen when a pitcher can do that. Aaron getting out of that, only giving one there and letting the boys come back in and hit to try to give him some run support, was really big for us. He’s a dog. He’s a true competitor out there.”

Nola had his ups and downs during the regular season but has been effective recently. One change is that he is now squaring his shoulders and stepping more directly toward the plate when he delivers the ball. Trea Turner mentioned another tweak.

“What he’s done with the slide step has been really cool,” the shortstop said. “Not only makes it harder for the runner to steal but gives the hitter a different look as well. I’ve noticed the last month when he started mixing that in that he was getting some weak contact. Getting some swings and misses. And his stuff plays, man. So when he adds that in, he’s one of the best there is.

“Everybody always wants to point to one play or one moment, but that moment happens a lot throughout the game. He’s cool, calm and collected all the time and nothing seems to faze him. So what he did doesn’t surprise me. When there are big moments, we need him to do stuff like that. Because if they score (more) there it could be a different ballgame.”

When Nola left the game with two outs and a runner on in the fifth, the crowd waved their red rally towels and gave him a standing ovation. It was a salute to the fact that he had only given up one run (another inherited runner would score after he departed) while walking one and striking out nine.

And, hopefully, it was also an acknowledgment of how pivotal his strikeout of Ozuna in the third turned out to be.