Aaron Nola Hitting Stride for Phillies on the Mound

The Philadelphia Phillies' pitching woes have been well-documented this season. Those woes were heightened when the team lost 15 of its first 25 games coming out of the Major League Baseball All-Star break.

But Philadelphia is now on a six-game winning streak after sweeping the Miami Marlins this week. It wrapped up that series with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday, in which Aaron Nola started on the mound and allowed just one run while striking out eight batters in seven innings pitched.

Overall, Nola hasn't had a good year thus far. He came into Wednesday with a 5.33 earned run average and an MLB-high 30 home runs allowed. But lately, he seems to be hitting his stride just when the Phillies have needed their pitching staff to step things up.

His last start came this past Friday in the "Field of Dreams" game against the Minnesota Twins in Dyersville, Iowa, the same town that the 1989 movie starring Kevin Costner was set in. During that contest, he also held his opponents to one run while recording nine strikeouts.

Aaron Nola is making necessary adjustments to thrive

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27) throws a pitch. — Aug 19, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27) throws a pitch against the Miami Marlins at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In fact, in Nola's last nine games, he gave up more than three runs just once -- that was on July 22 in a 9-5 loss to the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers -- giving him a 2.51 ERA in his last five starts. He ended June with a 6.04 ERA on the season, but that number is down to 5.12 after Wednesday's gem.

As MLB.com's Aaron Bracy noted, Nola has been doing a lot of his damage lately with his knuckle curve pitch.

In fact, Nola performed so well that it limited the Phillies' need to go deep into their bullpen, as Nola himself noted after Wednesday's contest, via SportsRadio 94WIP.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the 7th. It was good to keep it at 1 run for the team and to only get 2 bullpen guys out there.”

Aaron Nola gave up just one run tonight with 8 strikeouts in 7 innings.

He has a 2.51 ERA in his last 5 starts and has a 3.60 ERA since All-Star break pic.twitter.com/PJukfoCxkg
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 20, 2026

If Nola keeps up this type of pitching, it would be a big boon for a Phillies squad that has needed another reliable arm in their starting rotation other than Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo. Rookie Andrew Painter has mostly struggled this year, and the team was reportedly looking for pitching help prior to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, before acquiring Luis Arraez from the San Francisco Giants.

It's easy to forget that just two years ago, Nola recorded a solid 3.57 ERA and that in 2022 he had a 3.25 ERA and was fourth in MLB with 235 strikeouts as the Phillies reached the World Series. That version of the now 33-year-old would greatly increase the squad's chances of doing something special this fall.

For now, Philadelphia has a 70-58 record and is 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East. It will start a four-game home series against the Braves on Sept. 2, and Citizens Bank Park will surely be jumping then, especially if Nola works some of his recent magic against Ronald Acuña Jr. and crew.

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