Philadelphia Phillies' Ace Regressed at Worst Time on National Stage

The Philadelphia Phillies had their ace going during Game 6 of the NLCS. His regression hit hard at the worst time, setting up a must-win situation in Game 7.

The Philadelphia Phillies came into Game 6 of the National League Championship Series feeling pretty good.

They had stopped the bleeding on the road with a pretty dominant performance in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead back home to Citizens Bank Park.

Things set up nicely with Aaron Nola on the mound against Merrill Kelly, who had been shelled a bit during the first matchup against the Phillies' lineup.

The struggles of Nola during the regular season almost felt like an afterthought because of his strong form down the stretch and throughout the playoffs.

Prior to Monday's start, the ace had a 3-0 record with a 0.96 ERA in his three postseason starts.

But his regression back to issues that plagued him during the regular season hit hard and at the worst time.

Nola had given up the most home runs in his career this year with 32.

That reared its ugly head in Game 6, giving up back-to-back homers in the second inning. He then walked the next batter and gave up an RBI double to push the deficit to 3-0.

Ultimately, the second inning was the turning point in the game as Philadelphia's offense was never able to get things going.

The reason why the Phillies put together the one-two punch of Zack Wheeler and Nola was to close down series like this.

Wheeler did his job in Game 5. Nola fell apart in Game 6.

It's hard to be too critical of Nola after one performance where he gave up four runs and the offense didn't do anything to help, but it was another example of the ace putting together an outing that left people shaking their heads.

If everything goes right for Philadelphia in Game 7, he'll have an opportunity to perform in the World Series.

But if things go sideways on Tuesday, that could have been the last outing he has in a Phillies uniform.