The Phillies lost 5-4 to the Mets on Monday night. It was less competitive than the scoreline indicates, made close only by a ninth-inning Phillies surge that ultimately fell short.

Aaron Nola, now 0-5 on the season, was charged with four earned runs on seven hits and bitten early by the home run bug that’s been gnawing at both him and us for what seems like years now. Two solo shots had the Mets up 2-0 through two innings.

Among all MLB pitchers, Nola is now tied for the second-most home runs conceded this season:

Left to right, those Sportradar statistics are games pitched, innings pitched, earned run average, opponent hits, opponent home runs, and opponent home runs per nine innings. Only Tampa’s Ryan Pepiot has given up more dingers through the early part of the season.

If you sort the data based on HR/9, Nola’s 1.93 is sixth-worst among starting pitchers. For context, relievers Jordan Romano and Carlos Hernandez are giving up 3.52 and 2.57 home runs per nine innings on average. Jose Ruiz is logging a 2.25 and then Nola’s 1.93 is fourth-worst on the team.


Historically, Nola has struggled with home runs. You know this because you watch the games and have two eyeballs. In 2024, he finished with a 1.35 HR/9, which was 12th-worst. It was 1.49 in 2023, sixth-worst, and down to 0.83 during the 2022 World Series season, ranked 29th-worst in MLB. In seven of his 11 Major League seasons, his HR/9 number has crested 1.0, and in the other four seasons it’s hovered between 0.72 and 0.96. His best season against the long ball was 2018, when he pitched a career-high 212.1 innings and allowed only 17 homers.