Aaron Nola, Phillies bats overpower D’backs to move within two wins of a return to the World Series

Three pitches into the game Tuesday night, fleet-footed Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Corbin Carroll reached base when Trea Turner flubbed a routine grounder.

Cue the twine-like unraveling of Aaron Nola.

But nothing about Nola’s postseason return to Phillies acehood stands out quite so much as his newfound control over the running game. So, he calmly reduced his leg kick, went to a slide-step delivery, sprinkled in a pickoff throw or two, and got the next three batters out, leaving Carroll right there on first base.

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It may not feel like a big deal now. Not after the Phillies slugged three more homers, scored four runs in the sixth inning, four more in the seventh, and turned a taut two-run lead into a 10-0 knee-slapper in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Except here’s the thing: If that first inning goes differently, well, who knows? Because for much of the season’s first three months, checkered flags were more appropriate at Nola starts than Red October rally towels. And if Carroll had turned things into a track meet, Game 2 might have transpired much differently.

“Anything can happen, you know?” Nola said after reducing his postseason ERA to 0.96 in three starts — and hiking his price tag in free agency. “Carroll can steal, swipe the bag, and then a bloop hit or something and he scores. To keep him on first base is definitely a plus.”

And now, as the series shifts to Arizona on Thursday night, the Phillies are two wins from returning to the World Series after holding serve in back-to-back ragers at Citizens Bank Park. Even a fatalist must feel confident. Consider this: Teams that went up 2-0 in best-of-seven MLB postseason series wound up winning 75 of 89 times, including 31 out of 35 in the LCS round.

In routing the overmatched Diamondbacks, Turner went deep in the first inning before Kyle Schwarber hit missiles in the third and sixth, all against starter Merrill Kelly. Dating to the division series wipeout of the Braves, the Phillies have 15 homers in the last four games, more than any team ever in a four-game span in the playoffs.

And then, they really piled on.

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But it was Nola, like co-ace Zack Wheeler one night earlier, who played the starring role. Nola mixed his fastball and signature curve with a devastatingly effective changeup to allow three hits and rack up seven strikeouts.

“They’ve had some success off him in the past hitting his curveball, so we knew the changeup was going to be a big pitch,” J.T. Realmuto said. “It looked really good in the bullpen, and then the first few he threw in the game, it looked like it was one of his better changeup days.”

Nola got help, to be sure. The Phillies were at their defensive peak. Third baseman Alec Bohm dove to his right to backhand Gabriel Moreno’s smash in the second inning and to his left to rob a hit from Tommy Pham in the fourth. Bryce Harper made a diving stop at first base — his adopted position for three months — in the third inning. Nick Castellanos made a catch against the right-field wall in the fifth.

But Nola never lost command over the game, especially on the rare occasions when runners did reach base.

In the regular season, opponents batted .289 with an .816 OPS against Nola with runners on compared to .215 and .652 with the bases empty, a disparity that helped account for his 4.46 ERA in 32 starts. Small rallies often turned into four- and five-run innings. He gave up more home runs than ever.

For years, Nola resisted the slide step. He believed it contributed to an elbow injury in 2017 and figured he could curb the running game without changing his delivery. But with the advent of the pitch clock, limits on pickoff attempts, and larger bases, it became more difficult.

In August, pitching coach Caleb Cotham finally intervened. He asked Nola to experiment with the slide step during a bullpen session and used pitch data and advanced metrics to prove that it didn’t affect Nola’s curveball spin or fastball velocity.

“Yeah, I kind of axed it after 2017,” Nola said. “But with the clock, it’s harder to keep my regular leg lift every time. I knew I could incorporate what I used to do back in 2017. I just had to do it and get comfortable with it again.”

Easier said than done?

“Oh, it’s hard to do,” Wheeler said. “It’s hard to make pitches when you’re doing that. A lot of times you’re rushing to the plate and everything’s lagging behind. It’s hard to throw competitive strikes where you want it. It’s a fine line of not rushing but being quick.”

Nola made perfect pitches to strike out Ketel Marte and Pham, then get Christian Walker to pop out and strand Carroll in the first inning. He buckled down even more in the sixth after Marte ripped a one-out double. Nola got Pham to ground out before setting up Walker with the fastball and striking him out on a curve.

“We’ve seen where the game has gone this year,” Bohm said. “Stealing bases was way up. For Noles, who was known as a guy who was slow to the plate, to make an adjustment and change how he’s pitched his whole career — and to do it successfully — it just kind of shows that he’s our workhorse.”

Nola has allowed two runs in 18⅔ innings in three postseason starts. Add in Wheeler’s three starts — five runs in 19 innings — and the Phillies’ co-aces have posted a 1.67 ERA, a one-two punch reminiscent of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in a bygone era in Arizona.

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“I just want to try to follow Wheels up,” Nola said. “He sets the tone for us.”

Said Schwarber: “The way these guys are throwing the ball right now, it’s been fantastic.”

Indeed, it was vintage Nola, and he gave the Phillies a stranglehold on the NLCS. At this rate, the next time he pitches, it will be in the World Series.