It was revealed out of nowhere on Saturday that Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler was going to be placed on the Injured List with a blood clot in his right upper extremity, near his shoulder. As unfortunate as Wheeler's injury was, the Phillies seemingly caught a small break as right when the right-hander was placed on the IL, another high-end starter, Aaron Nola, was set to return from a prolonged IL stint of his own.
Nola at his best might not be Wheeler, but he's undoubtedly an ace. Unfortunately, not only was Nola not an ace in his return, but he put together one of the worst outings of his career.
Nola allowed just one base runner in his first two innings against the Washington Nationals and struck out three of the seven batters he faced, but in the bottom of the third, things unraveled. Armed with a 6-0 lead entering the frame, Nola allowed seven straight base runners, the last of which was a game-tying RBI double off the bat of Jose Tena to tie the game. After Tena's hit, Nola was pulled.
Just disastrous. The Phillies were up 6-0 at the start of the third inning. Now, it’s 6-6 and Aaron Nola is being pulled.
— Charlotte Varnes (@charlottevarnes) August 17, 2025
This was supposed to be a soft landing spot for Nola in his return. The Nationals have struggled mightily offensively, and had their best hitter, James Wood, on the bench. While Nola did look pretty good in his first two innings of work, the third inning was an unmitigated disaster. In total, the right-hander allowed six runs on seven hits and he walked a batter in just 2.1 innings of work. Tanner Banks was able to keep the game tied, but Nola turned what looked like a sure win into, well, who knows what?
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Aaron Nola's implosion has Phillies fans missing Zack Wheeler in record time
Again, nobody was expecting Nola to be Wheeler, but could he not be closer to the Nola of old? I mean, Taijuan Walker allowed just two runs in 6.2 innings on Saturday against this same Nationals team with James Wood in the lineup. Jesus Luzardo allowed three runs in six innings against the Nationals on Thursday, again, with Wood playing. Nola couldn't have done something close to comparable to what Walker and Luzardo, arguably the two worst pitchers in Philadelphia's rotation, did?
Phillies fans were always going to miss Wheeler, but seeing a starter implode like this makes them miss him even more sooner than expected. The Phillies placed Wheeler on the 15-day IL, but there's no timetable for his return. Phillies fans can only hope that return comes sooner rather than later.
Phillies need Aaron Nola to figure it out sooner rather than later
Unfortunately, the Nola we saw on Sunday was awfully similar to the Nola we saw before he landed on the Injured List earlier this season. In the nine games he started pre-injury, Nola went 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA across 49.2 innings of work. He had allowed 11 home runs in those nine starts, and allowed fewer than four runs just four times.
Phillies fans were hoping that now that he's fully healthy and faced a light-hitting team without its best player that Nola could put up one of his best starts of the season, but they got the opposite. In fact, Nola went a full inning lower than his previous lowest mark of the season.
There's still time for Nola to lock in before October, and perhaps a second crack at this same Nationals team that he's expected to face his next time out could help, but Phillies fans need to see Nola figure it out sooner rather than later, especially with Wheeler out.