The Phillies snapped their worst losing streak since 1999 on Thursday afternoon. All of the focus then shifted to Lehigh Valley and the debut of 2014 first round pick, Aaron Nola. After posting a 7-3 record and an ERA of 1.88 with Double-A Reading, Nola earned a promotion to Lehigh Valley earlier this week and made his debut on Thursday against the Buffalo Bisons, Triple-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.
Nola showed little signs of nervousness as he picked up right where he left off in Double-A. The 22-year-old right hander began his Triple-A debut with two strikeouts and a flyout in the first inning on just 15 pitches. His next few innings wouldn't be quite as smooth, but Nola worked out of a few jams.
The second inning started with another strikeout before Nola surrendered his first base hit of the game to Andy Burns. Nola got Daric Barton to fly out to center and then Ironpigs catcher Gabriel Lino gunned down Burns attempting to steal second to end the inning.
In the third, Nola allowed a lead-off double to Bisons catcher Sean Ochinko, but he retired the next two hitters via flyout and strikeout before giving up a single to Devon Travis. Nola ended the Bisons threat with his fifth strikeout of the night, getting right fielder Caleb Gindl looking to end the inning.
Nola gave up a single to start the fourth, but quickly recovered to retire the side with a flyout, his sixth strikeout and a soft grounder to second base. In his final inning of work, Nola got Ochinko to fly out this time before getting shortstop Munenori Kawasaki to ground out. He walked center fielder Jonathan Diaz, but struck out Devon Travis swinging to end the fifth.
Nola's final line looked like this: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 98 pitches, 66 strikes
RBI doubles from Jayson Nix and Cord Phelps combined with an RBI single off the bat off Darin Ruf gave the Ironpigs, and Aaron Nola, the 3-0 win over Buffalo. Ruf went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI on the night. He's hitting .250 with Lehigh Valley this season.
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
