Aaron Nola is on his way to the worst start of his career, but there are plenty of baseball to be played.
The veteran-right hand will strive to secure its first victory on the season on Wednesday evening when Philadelphia Phillies hosts San Francisco Giants in the third competition in their four-game set.
Nola (0-3, 5.51 era) allowed two home races in each of their first two start-up defeats to the Washington National and Los Angeles Dodgers. He held St. Louis Cardinals in the park Friday, but he went four battles in his five rounds as part of a 2-0 setback.
“He doesn’t have his good fast ball yet – with the (strong) finish on it,” said Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson, leaving that “he will get what (the weather) warms up, I think.”
It would help if Phillie’s bats warmed up during Nola’s start. They have received a total of two runs in his three excursions.
Filadelfia’s crime has generally been silent too late, although Tuesday’s competition was a step in the right direction. JT Realmuto and Bryce Harper hammered each one in two runs in a 6-4 victory over San Francisco.
“I liked our strategy tonight. Four walks. Two strikes,” said Thomson. “I thought we were playing a really good game.”
Max Kepler and Bryson Stott joined Realmuto with two hits for Phillies, who had dropped four of their previous five matches. They try to avoid releasing their third straight series after winning three consecutive sets to start the campaign.
“It’s still early, obviously, but you have to continue,” Harper said. “One game at a time, one round at a time. But you have to win series and leave.”
San Francisco in the meantime is looking back to winning after Tuesday’s defeat. The team had won four of their previous five matches, including 10-4 in Monday’s series openers.
Justin Verlander gave up a 3-2 lead on Tuesday, which enabled two runs in the sixth round, including the forward-looking base for Alec Bohm. The three times the Cy Young Award winner (0-1) remains without victory in four starts with Giants.
“He has had a lot of success, and it may have recorded it,” San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said about his decision to stick to Verlander at the key place, “but I wanted to give him a chance to get the last thing out.”
Left-hander Robbie Ray (3-0, 2.93 era) gets the nod for Giants on Wednesday and got off a challenging start at Yankee Stadium where he threw 98 seats in four rounds as part of a rain-passed game on Friday. Giants won 9-1. Ray went four in the wet conditions and gave him nine free passports in 10 rounds during the last two starters.
“I felt that the weather itself was not so bad, but then the field conditions started to be a bit after the second round,” said Ray, who has a chance to surpass his victory from last season, when he went 3-2 in seven starts after returning from Tommy John operation.
Ray owns a 4-2 record with a 5.32 era in eight career starts against Phillies. Nola is 3-2 with a 6.58 era in eight lifetime species versus Giants.
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