Phillies' Nola tries to exorcise demons vs. Marlins (Sep 13, 2017)
PHILADELPHIA -- Against the majority of opponents this year, Philadelphia Phillies starter Aaron Nola looked like a Cy Young Award candidate.
When he goes up against the Miami Marlins, however, Nola looks as if he doesn't deserve to be on a major league roster.
Nola, the presumptive ace on the Phillies' staff, is 10-7 with a 2.96 ERA against the rest of baseball, but 0-3 with a 10.67 ERA in three starts this season against the Marlins.
He will get one final chance to get back in the win column again the NL East division rival Wednesday night in the middle contest of a three-game series.
The Phillies took the opener 9-8 in 15 innings Tuesday night. It was Philadelphia's longest game of the season.
In six career starts vs. Miami, Nola is 1-3 with a 5.24 ERA. He lasted only five innings when he last faced Miami on Sept. 2, giving up two home runs as part of 10 hits and six runs in a losing effort.
The Marlins do have a high-powered offense led by major league home run leader Giancarlo Stanton (54 HRs, 113 RBIs) and Marcell Ozuna (33, 110), but Nola knows his results against them leave plenty of room for improvement.
"They're pretty good but I just have to execute better," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I'll try to make some adjustments."
The Marlins blew a 7-2 seventh-inning lead Tuesday night and an 8-7 advantage in the 10th inning, just the latest issues for a beleaguered bullpen. Without the services of closer Brad Ziegler (back), Kyle Barraclough blew the save as the Marlins lost via a walk-off hit for the fourth time in five games.
"I watched Mariano Rivera blow two in a row, so this doesn't really deter me with 'Clough," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "He's had too big a body of work to let a couple outings kind of get away."
The Phillies' comeback was sparked by rookie Rhys Hoskins, who hit his 15th and 16th home runs since his call-up in August. He belted a solo homer in the seventh inning to cut the deficit to 7-3, then hit a game-tying solo shot in the 10th inning after Ozuna went deep in the top of the inning.
Hoskins is the first player in major league history to hit 16 home runs in his first 40 career games -- and it took him only 32 games.
Nola opposes Marlins right-hander Dan Straily (9-8, 3.95 ERA) in the rematch of a Sept. 2 contest that the Marlins won 10-9.
Straily gave up four runs and nine hits in five innings in that game, putting him in line for a win he earned even after the Phillies plated five in the eighth inning.
In four starts against the Phillies this season, Straily is 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA. He had faced them only once prior to this season. While with the Cincinnati Reds in 2016, he shut the Phillies out over five innings before a high pitch count (109) necessitated his removal.
