Philadelphia Phillies Ace Delivered Gem Despite Suffering Neck Injury

The Philadelphia Phillies won their third series in a row on Saturday.

It came on the back of Aaron Nola's spectacular start that resulted in him winning his first game of the season.

The high-priced ace has not had a great beginning to the campaign, entering this past outing with an 0-5 record and 5.40 ERA. However, there were some signs that he was trending in the right direction after pitching a gem in the finale against the Chicago Cubs where he allowed just one earned run on three hits across seven innings.

However, Nola almost wasn't able to build on that performance.

Per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia, Nola felt his neck tighten up about 45 minutes before Saturday's game, putting the coaching staff on "high alert" that caused Ranger Suarez to be activated off the injured list a day early in case he needed to make an emergency start.

The Phillies needed to get a good outing from Nola, injured or not, and he delivered his best of the year thus far.

Despite dealing with some command issues, he threw six scoreless innings where he gave up four hits and struck out eight, allowing Philadelphia to cruise to a comfortable win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Nola also doesn't feel like this will be something that affects him going forward.

"Everything was normal. I felt it a little bit but it didn't get any worse during the game. I don't think it's gonna be any long-term, lingering kind of thing," he said, per Seidman. "Felt like it needed to pop and wouldn't pop."

Still, this will be something to monitor.

J.T. Realmuto said he was a little worried before the game started and wasn't sure how much Nola would be able to give. And Nola himself said that if the issue was in the left side of his neck then things might have played out differently.

If this injury goes away quickly, that will be a good sign for the Phillies.

With Suarez back, they finally are getting a look at how their rotation was supposed to look coming into the year, and with Taijuan Walker having good outings when he's been starting, that could help this relief staff improve with his move to the bullpen.

It's also a good sign that Nola is performing well.

Over his last two starts, he's allowed just one run in 13 innings pitched, striking out 14 and walking just two.

If Philadelphia gets that version of Nola going forward, this will be the best rotation in the MLB.