Philadelphia Phillies starter Aaron Nola has been his harshest critic amid back-to-back poor starts this season.
Phillies: Aaron Nola ready to “clean up” mistakes
Per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, Nola had this to say after his disastrous last start against the San Francisco Giants:
“It drives me crazy,” Nola said. “I mean, it’s unacceptable. Three times in my career I’ve done that, and two times in the past two games. I’ve just got to get ahead better. Too many free passes, and usually those runners have been scoring. I’m just making it harder on myself in those situations. Eight walks in two games overall. That’s not good. I’ll clean it up.”
Nola is focused on turning around uncharacteristic play
The 31-year-old is 0-4 on the season with an inflated 6.65 ERA. Though he struck out eight batters in his last outing, Nola also walked four.
The Louisiana native is known for keeping his walks low. He ranked in the 80th percentile with his 6.1 percent walk rate last season. Nola also ranked in the 80th percentile or better in each of the three seasons prior to that.
Now having played two games with four or more walks on the campaign, Nola will look to turn things around in his next start. The Phillies will need him at his best in order to fend off potent slugging attacks.