Aaron Nola ready to put amazing control streak on the line against Padres

Nola ready to put amazing control streak on the line Friday night in San Diego originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the San Diego Padres out west on Thursday night and on Friday night will look to turn it into a winning streak.

They have the right guy on the mound to do it.

The Phillies are 5-0 in Aaron Nola’s last five starts and the right-hander has been mostly brilliant in those outings. He is coming off eight shutout innings against Washington over the weekend in the nation’s capital.

Over his last five starts, Nola is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA. He has given up just eight earned runs and 25 hits in 37 1/3 innings. Only one of those hits has been a home run.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Nola’s recent five-start run: He has walked just one of the 138 batters he’s faced — and that was intentional.

Nola enters Thursday night’s start against San Diego lefty MacKenzie Gore leading the National League in WHIP (0.870) and ranked second in innings (89.7) and third in strikeouts (99). His 1.1 walks per nine innings is also the best mark in the NL.

Nola is returning to the ballpark in which he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning last August. The Phillies ended up losing that game in extra innings.

The Padres are having an excellent season at 44-28. They have been without star Fernando Tatis Jr. (wrist) all season and recently without Manny Machado (ankle). San Diego’s lineup does feature one hitter who knows Nola well, his brother and offseason workout partner, Padres’ catcher Austin Nola.

Austin Nola had a pair of hits on Thursday night but not enough to get the Phillies off track. Lefty Ranger Suarez pitched a beauty, giving up just two runs in 7 1/3 innings and the bullpen did the rest.

Offensively, the Phils had their power stroke going. Kyle Schwarber, the offensive leader of the Phillies’ June charge, clubbed a two-run homer, and J.T. Realmuto added a three-run homer. Both longballs came against right-hander Joe Musgrove, who entered the game with a 1.59 ERA, second-best in the majors. The loss was Musgrove’s first of the season as he fell to 8-1. The Padres are 11-2 in his starts.

Schwarber has five doubles, nine homers, 18 RBIs and a 1.107 OPS in 21 games this month.

Realmuto’s homer Thursday night was his first since May 26, hitting just his fourth of the season. He was hitting .224 with no homers and eight RBIs in June before Thursday night. The Phillies, who are 16-5 this month and 37-34 overall, would certainly like to see his bat continue to warm.