Aaron Nola’s remarkable streak of durability ends with IL stint

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Nola’s incredible streak of durability is over.

The Phillies right-hander is going on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to 5/15) with a right ankle sprain. Nola is not expected to be out for long, but the fact that he is going to miss multiple starts is a big deal.

Nola’s last non-COVID IL injured list stint came in 2017, when he missed a little over two weeks with a low back strain. A right elbow strain ended his season a couple months early in August 2016. He often talks about how his early career injuries have shaped his outlook on how he prepares his body to make every start in a season.

Since 2018, Nola leads all major league starters in innings pitched at 1,314 1/3. His teammate Zack Wheeler trails him at 1,265. He is one of only four major league pitchers to make at least 30 starts in all six full seasons since that year.

“That’s how I go about everything,” Nola, 31, said before Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. “I try to be as healthy as possible so I can be prepared and make my starts every single time I’m given the baseball. And it’s just something that just happened.”

Nola said he tweaked his ankle doing routine agility work in the outfield of George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa on May 8. He tried to pitch through the discomfort. The results were better in Cleveland, when he allowed four earned runs in five innings in a 6-0 loss on May 9. The bad ankle bothered him more in his last outing during the second game of the doubleheader on Wednesday. He gave up a career-high 12 hits and nine earned runs.

“It got a little better from Cleveland to last game,” Nola said. “I thought it would be pretty much better by now, but it’s still lingering.”

The Phillies wanted to address this now so that it doesn’t linger and lead to a more serious injury. Manager Rob Thomson said that the team went to Nola to suggest an IL stint.

“As a competitor, that’s what I’m here to do is go pitch,” Nola said. “I’ve pitched through stuff and little things that haven’t really affected me. It affected stuff around my delivery. Like I said, I thought it was going to subside by now pretty quick, but it hasn’t really. Hopefully, not pitching for a short period of time, it will be out really quick.”

“Before it turns into an elbow, a quad or a shoulder, it’s best we shut him down right now,” Thomson said.

As a corresponding move, right-handed pitcher Daniel Robert has been recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He is expected to arrive from Syracuse, where the IronPigs are currently playing, by game time.

Nola’s injury — and the team’s preference to build in extra rest for the starters — has led to a rotation shuffle. Former Phillies first-round pick Mick Abel will make his MLB debut on Sunday against Pirates star Paul Skenes. The original starter that day, Cristopher Sánchez, will have his next start pushed back a day Monday in Colorado. Taijuan Walker will slot into Nola’s spot on Wednesday. He will stay in the rotation until Nola is activated.

Nola could be back right after the 15-day minimum injured list stint is up on May 30.