Aaron Nola honored Phillies legend Roy Halladay in the best way he knew how

Aaron Nola was in complete command in Tuesday's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets from the moment he took the mound at Citi Field. He had all of his pitches working and his command was pristine. He even ended up retiring the first 15 men to face him.

Nola's perfect game bid was ended on a sixth-inning single by Tyrone Taylor, but he was able to work through that and keep the Mets off the board from start to finish. He pitched a complete game four-hit shutout in Philadelphia's 4-0 win. It was Nola's sixth complete game of his career and his fourth shutout.

Complete game shutouts have become increasingly rare with pitchers rarely allowed to throw more than 100 pitches in a game anymore. Nola proved to be dominant enough to warrant Rob Thomson's confidence in letting him finish what he started, and he did so on an incredibly special day.

Aaron Nola honors Roy Halladay by throwing a complete game shutout

Roy Halladay, one of the greatest pitchers in recent memory, would've turned 47 years old today. He pitched for both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Phillies and was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Nola throwing a complete game shutout on what would've been his birthday is too perfect considering the kind of pitcher Halladay was.

Halladay was a workhorse at its finest. He constantly found ways to pitch deep into games regardless of the circumstances. Nola is a modern-day workhorse. He doesn't throw as many innings as Halladay did, but he does lead the league in starts and innings pitched since 2018. He's also tied for second in shutouts in that span.

Meanwhile, Halladay, a pitcher who didn't debut until 1998 and retired after the 2013 season, still leads MLB with 68 complete games since 1995. That shows how dominant he was, and how much of a workhorse he was.

Nola isn't Halladay, but he picked a great way for the current Phillies pitcher to honor this historic Phillies pitcher on what would've been his 47th birthday.