Philadelphia Phillies: Aaron Nola bounces back in opener — sort of

No one likely noticed, but the hoped-for comeback year from Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies really began about March 16, when Philly’s ace Zack Wheeler demonstrated he probably wouldn’t be ready for Opening Day.

This demonstration came by way of a postponement of Wheeler’s scheduled bullpen session (set for the following day) in MLB’s delayed spring training. The pitcher had the flu. His off-season workouts had already started late before the delay because he had thrown an MLB-high 213.1 innings last season.

Aaron Nola, once the Philadelphia Phillies best starter, got another Opening Day start by default.

A bummer for the Phillies: Their NL Cy Young runner-up would definitely be a bit tardy for the games that count.

Thus, the putative ace of the Forever .500 Phillies, Nola, would start his fifth straight Opening Day. This should have been reasonably good news because the LSU right-hander had been important in keeping Philadelphia at least in within spitting distance of .500 for most of his career.

However, Nola had an off year in 2021, posting a 9-9 record with a 4.63. ERA. So, for all the hoopla over the Phillies big-bat signings this spring, a Nola bounce-back would be vitally important to the team in ’22.

Philly’s home opener followed several miserable, rain-soaked days. Friday, however, weather at game time, 3 p.m., was perfectly reasonable for April, a bit cool but sunny. The poverty-stricken Oakland Athletics were the opponent.

Nola’s mound opponent was a larger right-hander, Frankie Montas, who sported a lifetime winning record and ERA under 3.90 — like Nola — but in 69 fewer games. To be precise, Nola’s career ERA was 0.18 better, and whereas Montas had once finished sixth for his league’s Cy Young, Nola had a third.

The morning of the game, Inquirer.com had published a projection from Steamer for Nola that included a 3.96 ERA, and 196 innings pitched. The starts total (32) suggested the former Phillies number one starter would not be injured.

The big question was: Could the pitcher put batters away once he had two strikes on them? This was his problem last season.

For six innings, Nola looked fine. He reached counts with two strikes 10 times, and only once did not put the hitter away. He hit the A’s Stephen Piscotty with a pitch in the third inning. In the fourth, he gave up his first hit, a home run to Chad Pinder.

But after long half-innings on the bench in the third and sixth innings, while the Phillies build a 6-1 lead, the starter couldn’t find the plate in the seventh, or when he did, he was hit. On his second unsuccessful two-strike count, he gave up a three-run homer to Oakland’s first baseman Seth Brown. Exit Aaron Nola.

His performance was an arguable improvement over last year in general, considering his success against all batters with two strikes, but surrendering a home run to Brown highlighted another area Nola needs to improve on over last year — home runs allowed with two strikes.

With both teams deep into their bullpens, the Phillies held an 9-5 lead after eight innings. Their formidable hitters, including spring’s rookie sensation, Bryson Stott, all hit well, and not just home runs as so many had predicted.

In the ninth, reliever Corey Knebel, the expected closer, took the ball in the non-save situation and set down the Athletics 1-2-3, leaning on 97 mph fastballs and curves almost 20 mph slower than that.

The only notable problem was that it wasn’t entirely clear that Aaron Nola was bouncing back yet. He had thrown 57 of his 76 pitches for strikes. A couple were too good, however.