Aaron Nola posts a quality start as Phillies hold off late rally from Nationals

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 23, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Phillies manager Rob Thomson didn’t call a formal team meeting, but the news had spread quickly throughout the clubhouse. Zack Wheeler would undergo season-ending surgery, and the Phillies would have to continue their quest toward a World Series title without him.

During the 2023 playoffs, Bryce Harper had nicknamed Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola “Ace one and Ace two.” (Since then, Cristopher Sánchez has become a cornerstone of the Phillies rotation, and is likely deserving of a nickname of his own.) But if the Phillies are to succeed without Ace one, they will need to lean on Ace two.

Nola has struggled with command and execution this season, which was interrupted by an ankle and rib injury. But when he took the mound against the Washington Nationals on Saturday — a few hours after the Phillies announced Wheeler’s diagnosis — he showed encouraging results in the 6-4 win over Washington.

Nola posted his first quality start since May 3, holding the Nationals to two earned runs over six innings. He touched 94.1 mph with his four-seam fastball as he struck out six, after topping out at 93 in his last outing.

Home runs continued to be an issue, as Nola allowed two solo shots in the sixth inning. But he induced a flyout and a strikeout to end the frame, preventing things from snowballing.

One unearned run had scored on Nola in the fifth after a throwing error from first baseman Weston Wilson put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Dylan Crews scored on an RBI groundout from Brady House.

Meanwhile, Nationals starter Mitchell Parker held the Phillies without a hit through the first three innings. But when Harper finally broke through with a single to right field in the fourth, the floodgates opened.

It took no time for the Phillies to get four more hits. Back-to-back doubles from J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm scored two runs, and then Harrison Bader won an eight-pitch at-bat with a single to move Bohm to third. Edmundo Sosa broke the game open with a three-run home run to put the Phillies ahead 5-0.

Trea Turner tacked on a run in the fifth with a solo shot to left field that stayed just inside the foul pole.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Matt Strahm ran into some trouble in the eighth after allowing a pair of doubles to score a run. After Strahm hit Daylen Lile with a pitch, Orion Kerkering entered to face right-handed Crews and induced a groundout to limit the damage.

Jhoan Duran entered for the ninth, looking to rebound after blowing his first save in a Phillies uniform on Friday. Trouble loomed when Duran gave up a double and a single to bring the winning run to the plate, but he struck out James Wood and induced a lineout from CJ Abrams to seal it.