Aaron Nola looked like prime Aaron Nola on Sunday night, which was bigger than the actual 3-1 win itself.

Nola had a rough start to his season, carrying a 6.43 ERA into the start. The Phillies hadn’t won a game started by Nola all season before then. Nola’s velocity was down all season, and his command just wasn’t up to par, which was concerning.

Everything was working for Nola last night, who turned in his best start of the season by far: 7 innings of 1-run ball, striking out six, allowing just three hits. The biggest stat? He only walked one batter.

Aaron Nola hasn’t been a flamethrower in his career. He’s made his name with his control. Going into Sunday Night Baseball, Nola walked 10 batters in his last three starts. He walked four batters in back-to-back games for the first time in his career. His command was his force at Wrigley.

Nola’s cutter has been letting him down this season. It was awesome last night. Rob Thomson spoke about Nola’s cutter during a pre-inning, in-game interview on ESPN, and said it was the best Nola’s cutter has looked all season. Nola generated 16 total whiffs between all of his pitches.


“That was vintage Noles. He’s had some tough luck with the weather and the games he’s pitched in. Today was slightly better, and just that little window and he was back to his old self. He’s going to be good for us. I’m not worried about him at all.” – Trea Turner via Todd Zolecki at MLB.com

This is why I didn’t pull the plug on Nola five starts into the season, and you shouldn’t have either.

Were there reasons to be concerned? Yes, but not concerned for the rest of his season. Pitchers take some time to get into the swing of things. Nola looked like himself, and that mattered a lot more than the Phillies winning a huge Sunday Night Baseball game against a good Cubs team.