CLEARWATER, Fla. – Aaron Nola hasn’t gotten the results he wanted in his first two spring starts.
“I feel like there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done,” he said after a sub-par outing against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Nola allowed four hits and two runs over 2 2/3 innings. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out four.
“He didn’t have his command,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said.
An indicator of that: Nola threw 65 pitches.
“That wasn’t really my plan,” he said.
Nola, who will likely start the first or second game of the regular season, has given up eight hits and six runs over 4 2/3 innings in his first two spring starts.
“Pretty much everything,” he said when asked what needs the most work. “Throwing all three of my pitches for quality strikes when I need to. The biggest thing is getting ahead of most guys. That's what I want to be better at than I was today and my last outing.”
Mackanin liked the quality of Nola's stuff. The command just needs to be sharpened.
With 3½ weeks to go before opening day, Nola has plenty of time to do that.
The game
The Phillies and Tigers played to a 6-6 tie. Non-roster player Ryan Jackson tied it with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth after another non-roster invite, reliever Ernesto Frieri, gave up two runs in the top of the ninth to blow a save. Frieri allowed a triple, a sacrifice fly and a home run in the inning.
Maikel Franco smacked a pair of two-run home runs, giving him four on the spring.
“He looks so much different than he has in past springs,” Mackanin said. “I think he feels like he’s in for a big year and I’m hoping he is.”
Health check
Cody Asche is still ailing (see story).
David Hernandez is showing some improvement from the right triceps tendinitis that has prevented him from pitching in a game since March 1.
Hernandez played catch for the second day in a row on Thursday.
“It’s much better,” he said. “I hope to throw a bullpen on Saturday and my guess is get in a game Monday or Tuesday. It’s trending upward."
Jerad Eickhoff, slowed by a fractured right thumb early in camp, will pitch three innings in a minor-league game Saturday. Mackanin believes Eickhoff will be ready to be in the rotation during the first week of the season.
Up next
The Phillies travel to Disney World to play the Atlanta Braves on Friday. David Buchanan will start for the Phillies, replacing Charlie Morton, the latest to come down with flu-like symptoms. Kyle Kendrick, in Braves camp on a minor-league deal, will start for Atlanta.
Ryan Howard, excused from camp on Thursday (see story), is slated to be the designated hitter in the game.
The Phils will be home at Bright House Field on Saturday to play the Toronto Blue Jays. Vince Velasquez and R.A. Dickey are the probable starters for that one.