The Philadelphia Phillies (28-27) were in San Diego to face the Padres (31-23) in the middle contest of their three-game set Tuesday night. With an opportunity to secure a series victory against another top National League contender, they sent a struggling Aaron Nola to the mound and tweaked their lineup. Their hope? Set off a spark and remind the Padres and the National League that it's not how you start the year, but how you finish it.
A spark is just what they got, as the Phillies' offense would slug solo home runs in each of the first three innings - two off the bat of right-handed hitters - off a strong starter in Randy Vásquez. They would add another before the third inning was done.
That explosion of slug was enough to hold off a struggling Padres offense, despite their cornerstone, Manny Machado, hitting a two-out, two-run home run in the fourth.
Philadelphia secured the series victory after winning Game 2 and have set themselves up for a sweep - something they have only done two other times this season. Let's see how we got there.
Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly made a move yesterday to try and get his starting shortstop comfortable at the plate. Trea Turner entered yesterday hitting .221 - his lowest mark since the sixth game of the year on April 1.
That's not what anyone would expect from the reigning batting champion. So Mattingly, who had previously been resistant to moving Turner out of the lead-off spot, flipped he and Kyle Scwarber in the order looking for...something.
What he got was a few things from the man who finished No. 5 in NL MVP voting a season ago. Turner blasted a home run that was estimated to travel 434 feet. That is further than any ball he hit last season.
Turner wouldn't stop there. He added a single and promptly stole his tenth base of the season. He hadn't had a multi-hit game in over a week, and his long-ball in the third broke an 0-for-18 slump.
“Obviously getting him going would be huge for us,” Mattingly told reporters after the game.
His on-base percentage has been a problem this year, sitting at only .279 even afte rhis multi-hit effort. With bats like Schwarber and Bryce Harper (who also homered) batting 2 and 3, you need that lead-off hitter to excel at getting on.
Turner has reached base in the first inning 17 times this season - he has come around to score on 12 of those occassions. This is a small highlight of the importance of him raising that OBP. It won't happen overnight.
Turner seems to have an open mind about where he hits. He told reporters that hitting at the top of the lineup is "an honor" and that he will hit wherever he is asked if it will help the team in the shrot term or long term.
Mattingly has not committed to a permanent change at the top of the order. "I mean, I think we just see, right?" Mattingly told reporters, including Paul Casella of MLB.com. "Schwarbs has hit first a lot. Trea has hit two, he's hit one. I really don't think it's a big deal, honestly, which one's which. I'd like to get Trea going, and really hopefully, just give a little different feel to where he's at."
Nola has been known over his career for eating innings, and some years dominating opposing lineups and receiving Cy Young votes. Last year, and so far in 2026, the types of performacnes that earn you votes to be considered among the league's bebst have been few and far between.
Last night, Nola threw six strong innings in what might have been his best performacnce of the year:
6.0 IP | 3 H | 2 R (2 ER) | 0 BB | 5 K
The veteran right-hander retired the first 11 Padres to come to oppose him, carrying a perfect game into the fourth inning. It was broken up on a ground ball hit up the middle that Turner wasn’t able to field cleanly, which was ruled a single.
Trea would not have had a chance had he not been shifted up the middle, but the ball was in his glove and a clean throw to first would have ended the inning with perfection in-tact.
Instead, it allowed Manny Machado to step to the plate before the close of the frame and he delivered a two-run home run - the tenth long-bball that Nola has surrendered in his 11 starts.
Still, Aaron was able to rebound and remain his old stoic self. He shut the door on the Padres the rest of the way.
“Got some quick outs tonight,” Nola said. “No walks was pretty good. All the pitches felt pretty good. Felt like I got ahead pretty well.”
His command and sequencing were key. In recent starts, Nola has used his fastball less and relied on the movement and sharpness of his off-speed pitches. For the second start in a row, the veteran used his knuckle curve more than any other pitch. He got swing and miss all night, and threw it for a strike more than sixty-percent of the time.
“No walks again, two in a row,” Don Mattingly said. “To me, he just kind of kept them off balance all night.”
J.T. Realmuto hit a home run in the second inning after going nearly two months without one. His last blast came back on April 1.
Brandon Marsh, who is second in the majors in batting average, left the game after sustaining what the Phillies are calling a sprained middle finger on his right hand. He was picked off of first base in the first inning and seemed to jam his hand when diving back into the bag.
He was not immediately removed, but Mattingly eventually thought it best to play it safe. The Phillies are considering him day-to-day.
Philly has a chance to complete the sweep against a familiar face tonight. Cristopher Sánchez (5-2, 1.62 ERA) will take the hill against former Phillie Walker Buehler (3-2, 5.05 ERA). The game is a day game out west and starts at 4:10 p.m. Eastern time.
