You know sometimes when things in baseball appear to be true, but you dig a little deeper and they’re really not? There has always been a feeling when Aaron Nola is on the mound that the Phillies just don’t score runs for him. That’s something I’ve always thought was true, so it required a quick trip to Baseball Reference to confirm it.
Turns out: not really true! In 2024, his last really healthy year, the Phillies scored 5.5 runs per inning he was on the mound, which was 19th best in all of baseball.
The team scores for him, he just struggled to keep the score in the Phillies’ favor. Today, the offense did quite well getting him support, batting around in the first and never looking back.
For the Rockies, the first inning was truly ugly. Michael Lorenzen, the guy who willingly wanted to sign for them to try his hand at pitching in Colorado, got his first chance at seeing why the mile high air chews up pitchers who lack quality stuff and spits them out. The first inning rolled like this:
- double by Trea Turner
- walk to Kyle Schwarber
- walk to Bryce Harper
- two-run single by Alec Bohm (2-0, Phillies)
- RBI double by Bryson Stott (3-0)
- strikeout by Adolis Garcia
- three-run home run by Brandon Marsh (6-0)
- double by J.T. Realmuto that was lost in the sun by Mickey Moniak
- groundout by Justin Crawford
- RBI single by Turner (7-0)
- groundout by Schwarber
That’s what the experts call a “bad outing”.
While we thank Lorenzen for his no-hitter he threw here in Philadelphia, the Phillies really needed this game to get their offense going. The fun didn’t end there. In the second inning, Harper unloaded on a pitch from Lorenzen for his second home run of the game.
In the third, Bohm singled in another run for the Phillies, making the score 9-0 and ending Lorenzen’s day.
Meanwhile, Nola just cruised. Tasked with keeping a bad Rockies lineup off the board, he just threw strikes and kept the scoreboard empty. His curveball was crisp, his fastball was spotted and he scattered by a few hits to maintain the lead and shut down the opposition.
Of course, no blowout win is complete without Kyle Schwarber hitting a missile, so he did that.
Curiously, the team was then in turn held in check by Valente Bellozo yet again. He relieved for the Rockies and ended up finishing the game for them, the Schwarber blast the lone blemish on his record. His weird hex he has on the Phillies is something to be studied.
It’s the proper way to begin a trip to Colorado, particularly after struggling at home at the plate. They’ll look to keep it up tomorrow night.
