Phillies vs. Astros: Aaron Nola pitches a gem, Phils get to Framber Valdez
HOUSTON — Aaron Nola overcame a rocky first inning to deliver his best start of the season as the Phillies exacted a bit of revenge on Astros lefty Framber Valdez in a 3-1 win.
After Kyle Schwarber homered to put the Phillies up a run in the first inning, Nola gave it back to the second batter he faced when Jeremy Pea hit one out to center. Two batters later, Alex Bregman crushed a ball to right field but Nick Castellanos leaped over the wall to rob him of a home run.
It was one of two huge defensive plays that altered the course of Nola’s night. With the Phillies up a run in the fifth inning, Houston had runners on the corners with nobody out when Jose Abreu ran on contact from third base on a dribbler up the first base line. Alec Bohm’s only play was at the plate, where Abreu was out by a few feet. Had Abreu not run, the Astros would have had the bases loaded with nobody out.
Nola allowed just a run over eight innings and struck out six. He is the only pitcher in the National League so far this season with consecutive starts of at least seven innings.
He did it with slightly diminished stuff. Nola’s four-seam fastball averaged 91.7 mph, about one mph slower than last season. His sinker averaged 90.8. Even in the first inning, his heater was 1.4 mph slower than it was in the first inning a season ago.
But after that Pea homer, Nola retired 11 in a row. He made pitches when he needed to, he picked up six outs quickly in his final two innings and he didn’t walk a batter after issuing six free passes in his last two starts.
Nola’s length was especially important on a night when Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Dominguez were unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games. Jose Alvarado, who gave up the three-run home run to Yordan Alvarez that won the Astros the World Series the last time he was on this mound, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save.
Of the Phillies’ 10 save opportunities, six have gone to Alvarado, three to Kimbrel and one to Dominguez.
The Phillies made plenty of hard contact against Valdez, the tough lefty who beat them twice in the World Series, including the Game 6 clincher. Edmundo Sosa and Cristian Pache hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning to give the Phils the lead, though Pache injured his right knee slipping past the second base bag. He was removed from the game for Brandon Marsh, who singled in Sosa after Sosa’s second double off Valdez two innings later.
Marsh is 8 for 23 (.348) this season against left-handed pitching with four doubles and two home runs.
Schwarber’s first-inning home run was his second in a row against Valdez after taking him deep in the sixth inning of Game 6 last November. Lefties have hit just four home runs off of Valdez the last two seasons and Schwarber has two of them.
The Phillies are over .500 for the first time this season at 14-13. They’ve won games against three strong starting pitchers in a row in Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Valdez. They’ll see another Saturday night when Zack Wheeler (2-1, 4.73) opposes Cristian Javier (2-0, 3.21).
