Aaron

Nola

Suárez came in after Aaron Nola threw two scoreless innings while allowing one hit and striking out three. The southpaw threw just 72 pitches — 51 of them for strikes — while allowing just a solo homer to Tommy Edman in an excellent outing for the 30-year-old. Suárez will likely pitch in a similar role if the Phillies are able to advance to the NLCS.

Thompson added that Nola will be followed by lefty Ranger Suárez out of the bullpen. It’ll be an all-hands situation for the Phillies as they attempt to stave off elimination on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium after dropping the first two games of the best-of-five series.

Ranger Suárez will be available out of the bullpen for Saturday’s series-opening Game 1 matchup behind ace Cristopher Sánchez, if needed. Luzardo draws the starting assignment for Monday’s showdown at Citizens Bank Park before the series shifts to Los Angeles on Thursday for Game 3. The Phillies are going with an all-hands-on-deck approach to the early stages of the best-of-five series against the defending World Series champions, which likely puts Sánchez and Suárez in line to take the ball for either Game 3 or 4, if necessary.

This was a much-needed strong game to head into the postseason. Nola struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter while posting a 22 percent whiff rate and 31 percent CSW. The only blemish was a solo home run to Christian Vazquez in the sixth inning. It’s been a rough season for Nola, who battled injuries and will finish the regular season with a 6.01 ERA in 94 1/3 innings and a 97/28 K/BB ratio. The Phillies would love to get this version of him in the postseason with Zack Wheeler out.

10 of the 18 balls in play against Nola were hard hit, but he allowed just two runs before giving up doubles to back-to-back batters in the sixth. He was replaced then, and the runner he left on came around to score off Tanner Banks. It’s the 10th time in 16 starts this year that Nola has been charged with at least four runs. It’s going to be difficult to justify starting him in the postseason, but he’ll get one more chance to help his case next weekend against the Twins.

Piggyback fever is sweeping the nation. The Phillies become the latest organization to take the plunge with the Walker/Buehler tandem — seriously, you can’t make this stuff up — enabling the club to set up their rotation by having Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez face the Diamondbacks this weekend, which puts Cristopher Sánchez on track to start Game 1 of the NLDS.

Nola gave up a two-run homer to Joe Caglianone and a three-run homer to Salvador Perez. He didn’t even miss with either pitch. Caglianone’s homer came on a curve that would have clipped the outside corner and the bottom of the strike zone if Caglianone hadn’t pulled it 404 feet anyway. The Perez homer was on a slider below the knees. Nola topped the NL with 30 homers allowed in 199 innings last season. This year, he’s given up 17 in just 81 innings while going 4-9 with a 6.44 ERA. He’ll face the Diamondbacks next weekend.

David Robertson, Matt Strahm and Jhoan Duran covered the last three. Nola allowed a season-low three hits while throwing 94 pitches. It’s the second time he’s gone without allowing a run and the fifth time he’s fanned as many as seven through 14 starts. The win puts him at 4-8 with a 6.24 ERA and makes him look like a better play in a home start against the Royals this weekend.

What a disastrous start by Nola. The Brewers hung a five-spot on him before he recorded an out after a walk, hit batsmen, two singles, and three-run home run by Isaac Collins that barely left the yard. Funny enough, most of the damage was his own doing by putting the first two runners on for free and creating chaos. Then, Sal Frelick drove in the first two with a bloop single before Collins’ wall-scraper. Things were relatively easy for Nola from that point on, but the damage was already done. He’s scheduled for a two-start week — with both at home — coming up against the Mets and Royals.

The 32-year-old hurler struck out four batters on the evening while issuing three free passes. The Braves jumped on him for three runs in the top of the first inning, then Nola settled in nicely and kept them off the board until Matt Olson swatted a solo homer in the sixth inning. He got seven whiffs on 95 pitches on the night — five of them on his fastball — while posting a CSW of 23 percent. He’ll look to extend his winning streak to three as he brings a 6.47 ERA, 1.50 WHIP and a 66/21 K/BB ratio (64 innings) into a tough matchup against the Brewers in Milwaukee on Wednesday.