QUEENS, N.Y. — With 10 games remaining and a likely postseason ahead, reliability matters more than ever.
For the last two months, the Phillies have been able to find it in Aaron Nola.
Each time he’s taken the hill lately, Philadelphia has given itself a good chance to win.
Like it did Thursday.
The 33-year-old faced the New York Mets for the 34th time across his 12th big league season. New York has certainly had multiple identities over that span, but Nola looked like he knew each Mets hitter like the back of his hand in the Phillies’ 3-0 victory at Citi Field.
In complete control, Nola worked fast and efficiently. He got ahead, fired first-pitch strikes at an outstanding clip and forced uncomfortable at-bats. Through four innings, he hadn’t allowed a hit and needed only 38 pitches.
You could tell he was in a groove — and that’s been a common theme.
Why?
“I think just mixing well and throwing all the pitches for strikes and just trying to keep everything sharp,” Nola said. “Just taking it hitter by hitter and game by game. Try not to be too perfect with my pitches.”
But the Phillies, as they have for much of the season, opened the night struggling to provide run support for him.
They had a tough customer on the other side in Nolan McLean. The Phillies haven’t had any level of success against the second-year right-hander, who entered with a 0.47 ERA in three meetings against them.
With the way both pitchers were throwing, whoever scored first was going to grab some serious momentum.
In the fifth, the Phillies loaded the bases after a pair of two-out walks before Bryce Harper put them ahead. Already with two hits against McLean, Harper bounced one to the left side, where Francisco Lindor fielded it and chose the shorter throw to second instead of going across the diamond.
Except Trea Turner was flying into the bag.
Arguably, the extra length of Turner’s sliding mitt made the difference. He was initially called out, but the call was overturned and the Phillies had a 1-0 lead.
It wasn’t loud contact, but it was enough.
That’s all Nola needed.
After a nine-pitch, hitless fifth in which he continued to face the minimum, a scary moment unfolded in Queens.
With Alec Bohm on second, Justin Crawford bounced one to the right side. Mets first baseman Jared Young stayed near the bag and reached for the ball as McLean came over to cover. McLean’s knee struck Young in the head.
Young went face down and lost consciousness as medical personnel rushed onto the field. He was eventually placed on a stretcher and carted off, giving a thumbs-up as he left. The Mets later announced that Young had feeling in his extremities and was taken to a hospital for further evaluation.
It was difficult to resume after a scene like that.
When play did, Nola didn’t lose his rhythm.
Nick Morabito broke up the no-hit bid with one out in the sixth, putting two runners aboard after Nola had opened the inning with a walk. That brought Francisco Lindor to the plate with a chance to do damage against a club he has hurt plenty of times before.
Nola got him to put the ball on the ground.
Luis Arraez backhanded it, made a strong feed to second and Turner completed the double play with a throw to first.
Whatever energy remained inside Citi Field disappeared.
Nola returned for the seventh and finished it without allowing a run. Mattingly considered sending him back out for the eighth, but after checking with his starter, sensed that seven was enough.
“He seemed hesitant to me,” Mattingly said. “He felt like he didn’t have the same fastball. He was kind of running out of gas. So more than anything, it was just reading him.”
Nola’s night ended with seven scoreless innings and another step in what has become a remarkable turnaround.
He has now allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight consecutive starts.
For 23 straight starts earlier this season, Nola carried an ERA north of five. That came after a 2025 season in which injuries contributed to a 6.01 ERA.
After his 31st start of this season, his ERA is down to 4.49.
And over his last seven starts, Nola owns a 1.66 ERA — fifth-best among 48 qualified starters in that span.
The results have followed better health, too.
“It feels good. I’m healthy,” Nola said. “I had the ankle injury, of course, and just tried to battle through that a lot longer than I thought I was going to be. I didn’t realize how much I used the ankle until I really hurt it.”
Mattingly watched Nola from the opposing dugout for years before taking over in Philadelphia. Earlier this season, he wasn’t seeing the same pitcher.
Slowly, that changed.
“I think he’s made the adjustments to the strike zone, his mix is good,” Mattingly said. “He’s got weapons for everybody. He can get the ball in a lot of different parts of the plate with different pitches, and that’s always a problem for guys.”
Mattingly never viewed Nola’s struggles as evidence that all the innings over his career had finally caught up with him.
“Guys that locate like that and that work and are healthy, you know what they’ve been in the past,” Mattingly said. “Guys just don’t quit getting better or trying to get better and reinventing themselves, in a sense. As you get older, you have to do it.
“Obviously, it was tough there early for him. But he just hung in there, kept working, and next thing you know, you’re seeing this.”
Now, the Phillies are leaning on him again.
“Now you just kind of count on him doing that,” Mattingly said. “It’s gotten to that point.”
That could become increasingly important.
There’s a possibility the Phillies could be without Jesús Luzardo if they enter a postseason series. That would obviously be less than ideal, but in a three-game Wild Card Series, two victories are all it takes to advance.
Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez would likely be the first two options if the Phillies can line up their rotation after clinching. If they need a third game, the way Nola is throwing right now shouldn’t drain anyone’s confidence in their chances.
“Nola’s huge,” Mattingly said. “With Zeus, not knowing what’s going on and how this thing gets down to the wire, how he factors in could be huge.”
Nola wasn’t ready to look that far ahead.
“We really hope he can come back healthy and quick,” Nola said of Luzardo. “We really need him. But all the starters here, we’re just trying to take it game by game and make sure we’re healthy and do everything we can to put the team in a good chance to win.”
October is often about riding the hot hand.
Right now, Nola’s right hand qualifies.
The Phillies gave themselves more breathing room in the seventh without even recording a hit. Turner took two bases on an errant pickoff throw before Arraez lifted a sacrifice fly.
They manufactured another in the eighth. Bryson Stott doubled, Brandon Marsh dropped down a sacrifice bunt and Crawford followed with a sacrifice fly.
It was the first time all season the Phillies had three sacrifice hits in a game.
Every additional run mattered with Nola keeping the Mets quiet.
“Every run felt better and better as we’re able to score and add on,” Mattingly said. “It gets you to the point where your reliever can make a mistake and you’re still in the game.”
One blemish in the victory came in the eighth, when Jonathan Bowlan exited with right groin tightness.
Bowlan said he felt it on his second-to-last pitch and again on his final pitch before leaving. He said the tightness had already subsided some after treatment, but it is what led to an injured list stint back in April.
“No pop, nothing like that, so that’s positive,” Bowlan said. “We’ll just have to see what tomorrow brings.”
The Phillies will reevaluate him Friday.
Philadelphia’s last two wins haven’t exactly been pretty, but they have been built around what tends to travel this time of year: starting pitching.
Wheeler gave them one. Nola followed with another.
Both shutouts.
The Phillies’ magic number is now five, putting them in position to potentially clinch a fifth straight postseason berth before leaving Queens.