NL WILD CARD SERIES: MARLINS VS PHILLIES

October 4, 2023

Aaron Nola

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame Press Conference

Phillies - 7, Marlins - 1

Q. Aaron, can you just describe your feelings on, A, to pitch in a series clincher and to do so by pitching as well as you did?

AARON NOLA: Yeah, I just tried my best to follow Wheels up. He set the tone in Game 1. Obviously he dealt as usual. It's a big win for us.

Just tried to stay within myself tonight and make my pitches all night. Not try to do anything crazy, just try to stay consistent throughout the night and fill up the zone as best as possible and try to keep those guys on the ground.

I'm pretty familiar with them, and they're pretty familiar with me.

Defense played awesome, key double plays tonight. J.T. caught a great game, and obviously the offense was great.

Q. Aaron, do you feel like you found something these last three starts? If so, what in particular do you think has been working so well?

AARON NOLA: I just honestly try to be more square to the plate, keep my shoulders square. I felt like I was getting too rotational. I was losing sight of my balls consistently throughout my games, which kind of led to pulling balls and curveball kind of inconsistent and the ball was getting away from me.

So really just tried to keep my shoulders square and kind of step straight to the target. Nothing crazy, but I guess over the time, it kind of got away from me. So just tried to simplify that.

Q. Then there was that mound visit where there were two guys on and you induced the double play shortly thereafter. How important is slowing the game down in those situations for you?

AARON NOLA: It's big. Especially with the clock in the postseason. I want to slow the clock down. It obviously was a big situation. J.T. called -- I just told him to put whatever down. All my pitches kind of felt good tonight. Luckily we were lucky enough to induce that double play.

Q. Lastly, Skip Schumaker was just in here, and he said that you and Wheeler are the best one-two punch you're going to come across in all of baseball. You guys have been together four years. Do you take sort of a pride in what you two have been able to do over the last year in the postseason?

AARON NOLA: He's awesome. I love watching him pitch and following him up. He's such a competitor, and he's such -- he's a perfect guy for us to start series off. You know what you're going to get when Wheels is on the mound. He really doesn't give up much runs. He's super consistent. He pitches at a high velocity, and he doesn't throw -- he has three to four elite pitches that he commands. It's fun to follow the guy up.

Q. Aaron, the way you and Wheeler pitched in this series and the way your hitters came out, especially Bryson Stott with the grand slam in the bottom of the sixth, is this series kind of a sneak preview about how good you all feel that you match up with Atlanta? Even though Atlanta won the division by 14 games and they've got all those hitters, do you feel like with all the guys you've got you're just as good?

AARON NOLA: We're a good team too. You see it time and time again this whole season. We never give up. We've got a lot of veteran guys that have experience postseason obviously which is a big factor, and Atlanta is a good team. We're also very familiar with them and vice versa.

But we've got to go take care of business Game 1 when we go there. They're going to be ready to play, obviously, in front of their home crowd. It's obviously not going to be a cake walk.

Q. Rob said he was very proud of you tonight. He knew what you were facing, what you'd gone through, and he didn't question that you were the guy for the moment. What was it like walking out to the bullpen to that ovation knowing that that could have been the last time you're walking out to that bullpen in that uniform? Did you take a second to soak it all in before? And how, I guess, fortunate do you feel now to know that you're going to probably have another start here?

AARON NOLA: Yeah, I did. I tried to soak it in as best as possible. It's just cool to pitch in the postseason over here. Obviously I've only been with the Phillies my whole career, and to walk out there tonight to have a Wild Card at home, it's pretty special. Especially being up 1-0.

You don't get it like every other place like you do here. The fans are already -- it's already a packed house when I walk out there to go warm up in the bullpen. They kind of bring the energy and kind of bring it out in us a little bit more, a little extra. It's pretty cool. It's pretty special.

Q. Aaron, what did you see on the Berti play? How big play was that? I thought the crowd was getting a little quiet in there, and that play when you picked him off seemed to fire everybody back up again?

AARON NOLA: I had a 3-2 count on Stallings, and I kept on looking Berti over there. I looked him that third time, and I saw him kind of shuffle a little bit, get off a little bit more. When I looked home, I decided inside move because I felt like he was going to go, and he went.

I tried to stay calm in that situation, tried to lead Bohm as best as possible because Berti was moving to third base, and Bohm was running too. So I tried to lead him as best as I could, and it worked out.

Q. Did it feel like, not to put words in your mouth, that the momentum shifted at that moment or did you feel like you had it under control the whole way?

AARON NOLA: I feel like there was a little momentum shift. For a pitcher, it's definitely a plus to pick a guy off in a situation like that, especially when a guy that can run is on second base with less than two outs, you know he's going to try to get to third, and you've got the 9 hole hitter up. You've got the highest average hitter on deck.

So to get that out was huge, and I just tried to have to make my pitch to Stallings with that 3-2 count, and it ended up working out well.

Q. Aaron, what do you think about this team's defense, how even in the last season or two, the way it's gotten more consistent, it seems, and a lot better?

AARON NOLA: Absolutely. Those guys work all the time. They work every day at it. Honestly, it's all about picking the guys up, no matter what happens. They make an error. I try to pick them up. Our pitching staff tries to pick them up as best as possible and get the next guy out and vice versa.

We miss a pitch, they make a great play. That's why we're a team, right? Nobody's hanging their head because something bad happens, especially this time of year postseason. Everything matters, and to pick up each guy, it's important.

Q. Seeing Orion take the mound in the eighth inning, what were your thoughts on how he looked in his postseason debut?

AARON NOLA: He's a stud. It's pretty special for that kid. Started out in A ball this year, and now he's in postseason pitching in the Wild Card. His stuff is electric. His fastball, his slider, obviously everybody knows. He looks like he's been here for five years.

He doesn't look like he gets overwhelmed on the mound. He's got a lot of confidence, and you can see that.