After struggling during his first start of the season, Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola made significant progress in his second outing.
He will try to build on that progress Wednesday afternoon when the Phillies close a six-game road trip by facing the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies defeated the Cardinals 5-3 in 10 innings Monday, and St. Louis answered by blanking Philadelphia 3-0 on Tuesday.
Nola (1-1, 5.40 ERA) allowed seven runs, six earned, in 4 1/3 innings during a 12-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves on March 30. He rebounded as the Phillies blanked the host Washington Nationals 4-0 on Friday. Nola walked four batters in the blustery conditions but gave up only two hits over 5 2/3 innings.
"Chilly, chilly a little bit," Nola said after that game. "I feel like my misses weren't terrible. I'll have to go back and look. I know to (Joey) Gallo, I was missing a little bit high to him. And he was laying off some good pitches. They laid off some good pitches, too. They don't chase too, too much over there. Got some good hitters on that team.
"But, overall, felt pretty good. It was a good win tonight."
Nola went 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals last season. In his career, he is 6-3 with a 2.50 ERA in 11 starts vs. St. Louis.
The Cardinals will send a sputtering offense against Nola. Key hitters Paul Goldschmidt (batting .182) and Nolan Arenado (no homers, four RBIs) have endured slow starts.
St. Louis scored three runs or fewer in five of its past six games, though the Cardinals managed to go 3-3 in that span.
"That's kind of been the case early this season," manager Oliver Marmol said. "Our offense hasn't clicked the way we want it to. We're aware of it. It's a matter of time before those guys get going. We just had trouble scoring runs."
After missing four games with a bruised hand, St. Louis catcher Willson Contreras returned to the lineup Tuesday as the designated hitter and went 1-for-4.
"He's feeling a lot better over the last couple of days," Marmol said. "Every day has been a little better. That's important. He's still having a little bit of trouble squeezing the mitt, being able to catch nine innings. But being able to DH, we're really excited about that."
Lance Lynn (0-0, 4.15 ERA) will make his third start of the season for the Cardinals. He threw four scoreless innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers before a Southern California rainstorm cut short his March 30 start.
In his second outing, Lynn served up three home runs to the Miami Marlins in 4 2/3 innings on Thursday, though the Cardinals won 8-5. He allowed four runs on eight hits in that contest, striking out seven and walking one.
Lynn is 2-1 with a 3.70 ERA in four career starts against the Phillies.
With St. Louis' Sonny Gray coming off the injured list to start the Tuesday game, Zack Thompson moved from the rotation back to the bullpen and reliever John King was optioned to Triple-A Memphis.
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