Mar 29, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola (27) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Mandatory Credit: Reggie Hildred-Imagn Images Reggie Hildred
WASHINGTON — At times Sunday afternoon, it felt like Aaron Nola was pitching as well or better than Zack Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo did over the first two games of a season-opening series against the Nationals.
But the final line for the longest-tenured Phillie doesn't reflect that in what turned out to be a 5-1 loss.
Across the first three innings Sunday, Nola struck out five batters. It seemed like he was going to give the Phillies a chance to open the 2025 season with a sweep of the NL East-rival Nationals:
Pure filth from Aaron Nola 🤢
(@PitchingNinja)
pic.twitter.com/IfgGaXVU6O
But Nola ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. After hitting Keibert Ruiz with a pitch and allowing a single to Nathaniel Lowe, Nola served up a 91 mph fourseam fastball on the first pitch to Josh Bell, which was promptly hit 400 feet for a three-run home run:
Pure filth from Aaron Nola 🤢
(@PitchingNinja)
pic.twitter.com/IfgGaXVU6O
For Bell — who is now in his second stint with the Nationals — it was his 16th career regular-season home run against the Phillies, the most he's hit against any team.
Nola would go on to surrender a two-run shot off the bat of Lowe in the bottom of the sixth inning, which sent him to the showers:
as the ancient texts foretold ..... shorty got lowe pic.twitter.com/9Jb72w5UYO
Overall, Nola struck out eight, but allowed six hits — two of which were home runs — and five earned runs. Whatever magic there was at times in his first start of the season will be forgotten because he'll leave D.C. with an 8.44 ERA.
"Yeah, the Bell home run, just a pitch up over the middle of the plate. First-pitch heater and he jumped on it," Rob Thomson said after the game. "The fastball to Lowe looked like it was pretty much right down the middle.
"But I thought Nola was good early," Thomson added. "He was really commanding the baseball. As time went on ... fourth, fifth, sixth, I thought he missed some locations. But it was good. The cutter was good, it was getting in on lefties. The changeup had some depth to it. And the curveball was sharp. So it was good."
Nola had some similar thoughts, while obviously seeming frustrated with how things ultimately turned out.
"Honestly, I felt really good today," Nola said. "All my pitches felt really good. A ball kind of up and in the middle to Bell with two guys on — obviously, that kind of hurt. The fastball to Lowe was middle, I tried to go down and away with that one and he put a really good swing on it."
There's no reason to be particularly concerned, especially since Nola did have some really good flashes Sunday. But while Nola does lead baseball with 784 innings pitched since the start of the 2021 season, he's also given up 108 home runs over that same stretch. Only Patrick Corbin (122) and José Berríos (110) have surrendered more during that period. And though Nola often has limited the home runs he has given up to the solo variety, he didn't Sunday, and that was his undoing.
After the game, Nola was asked whether he thinks home runs will always be something he has to work around or if there's something he can do to cut down on the amount of long balls he gives up.
"Yeah, I hope so," Nola said. "I always want to avoid giving up the long ball because I think it's hurt me the past few years a lot. I mean, solo home runs is whatever. I'd rather [not give up] solo home runs, but the ones that really hurt are the three-run homers like today and the two-run homers. So hopefully, I can limit those this year and not give up as many, especially with guys on base."
The Phillies will now head home to Citizens Bank Park for their first homestand of the year. But where Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler and Taijuan Walker could benefit from facing the lowly Colorado Rockies, Nola won't be as lucky. His next start will likely come Saturday against Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
