Phillies vs. Astros: Aaron Nola pitches a gem, Phils get to Framber Valdez

Nola pitches a gem, Castellanos robs his 1st HR in a place that felt extra special originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

HOUSTON -- Aaron Nola overcame a rocky first inning to deliver his best start of the season as the Phillies exacted a bit of revenge on Astros lefty Framber Valdez in a 3-1 win.

After Kyle Schwarber homered to put the Phillies up a run in the first inning, Nola gave it back to the second batter he faced when Jeremy Peña hit one out to center. Two batters later, Alex Bregman crushed a ball to right field but Nick Castellanos leaped over the wall to rob him of a home run.

Castellanos hit the ground after making the catch and remained seated for a few seconds, preventing either side from knowing whether the ball was gone or caught. Then he jumped up and let out a big smile running off the field.

It was the first home run he's ever robbed, and it meant a little more to him coming on the field where the Phillies' playoff run ended last November.

"I've made some nice catches at the wall before but I think that's the first homer that I pulled back over the fence, which was cool," Castellanos said. "Being able to make that play here against the team that beat us in the Fall Classic definitely feels good. Running in across the field and getting booed after making that catch feels good. Just certain things that we all get to talk and laugh about in the hotel room with teammates after the game.

"To say that we all don't understand what happened here last year would be a lie. We know. We just had their mascot stick their World Series ring in our face on the Jumbotron. I don't know about everybody else, but I pay attention to that stuff."

It was one of two huge defensive plays that altered the course of Nola's night. With the Phillies up a run in the fifth inning, Houston had runners on the corners with nobody out when Jose Abreu ran on contact from third base on a dribbler up the first base line. Alec Bohm's only play was at the plate, where Abreu was out by a few feet. Had Abreu not run, the Astros would have had the bases loaded with nobody out.

Nola allowed just a run over eight innings and struck out six. He is the only pitcher in the National League so far this season with consecutive starts of at least seven innings.

He did it with slightly diminished stuff. Nola's four-seam fastball averaged 91.7 mph, about one mph slower than last season. His sinker averaged 90.8. In the first inning, his heater was 1.4 mph slower than it was in the first inning a season ago.

Nola admitted his velocity isn't where he wants it to be, though he said that Friday night his focus was on command and movement. It worked.

"J.T. (Realmuto) called a really good game tonight," he said. "(Velocity) is not where I want it to be. Still kind of battling the pitch clock, that was my first time with eight up-and-downs. I don't want to let it all eat the first couple innings and not be able to go deep into the game. I kind of have to pace myself in a way, not try to throw everything as hard as I can. Tonight was pretty much, make quality pitches and try to make the ball move a little bit."

After the Peña homer, Nola retired 11 in a row. He made pitches when he needed to, he picked up six outs quickly in his final two innings and he didn't walk a batter after issuing six free passes in his last two starts.

"Unbelievable," manager Rob Thomson said. "Noles just seemed to get better and better as the game went on. The seventh inning was so quick that we just made sure he was OK to go out in the eighth and he shut it right down.

"He knows how to pitch. When he's got more fastball, he can power guys. But when he doesn't, he can keep you off balance, get soft contact and still get some swings and misses."

Nola's length was especially important on a night when Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Dominguez were unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games.

"That was heaven-sent, really," Thomson said.

Jose Alvarado, who gave up the three-run home run to Yordan Alvarez that won the Astros the World Series the last time he was on this mound, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save.

Of the Phillies' 10 save opportunities, six have gone to Alvarado, three to Kimbrel and one to Dominguez.

The Phillies made plenty of hard contact against Valdez, the tough lefty who beat them twice in the World Series, including the Game 6 clincher. Edmundo Sosa and Cristian Pache hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth inning to give the Phils the lead, though Pache injured his right knee slipping past the second base bag. He was seeing the team doctor after the game, though Thomson said he's not overly concerned just yet and that Pache lobbied to stay in the game.

Pache was removed for Brandon Marsh, who singled in Sosa after Sosa's second double off Valdez two innings later.

Marsh is 8 for 23 (.348) this season against left-handed pitching with four doubles and two home runs.

Schwarber's first-inning home run was his second in a row against Valdez after taking him deep in the sixth inning of Game 6 last November. Lefties have hit just four home runs off of Valdez the last two seasons and Schwarber has two of them.

"We didn't chase much, we got him in the zone and took some good swings off of him," Thomson said. "We got four hits from the last two spots in the order off of Valdez. It was a really good game."

The Phillies are over .500 for the first time this season at 14-13. They've won games against three strong starting pitchers in a row in Logan Gilbert, George Kirby and Valdez. They'll see another Saturday night when Zack Wheeler (2-1, 4.73) opposes Cristian Javier (2-0, 3.21).

Beyond getting over .500, this was the kind of night the Phillies needed to see from Nola, who had a 5.40 ERA in his first five starts and had trouble with shutdown innings, allowing nine of his 19 runs the half-inning directly after the Phillies scored.

"That's what he does, man," Castellanos said. "Just time and time again when the stage is set and there's a big moment, when a lot of people get antsy, he's just right where he needs to be. Calm under pressure is a great way to describe him as a pitcher."