Phillies ace Aaron Nola sets Citizens Bank Park record

On a night when Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola did not have his best stuff, he still put together a good enough performance to earn his 61st career victory.

Tossing a season-high 114 pitches, the seven-year veteran yielded five hits, two walks, and just one earned run, while striking out 10 batters — en route to helping the Phillies secure their first consecutive stretch of wins since starting the year out 4-0.

Phillies RHP Aaron Nola set a Citizens Bank Park record in Tuesday’s win.

Nola’s double-digit strikeout performance — his 15th such career outing at Citizens Bank Park — set the record for most in the venue’s history.

The Louisiana native achieved the feat during his 75th career start in South Philadelphia. That means, one in out of every five home starts in Nola’s career, he recorded 10 or more strikeouts.

Nola surpasses Cliff Lee, who recorded 14 outings with 10 or more strikeouts at Citizens Bank Park. Fellow former southpaw ace Cole Hamels had 13 — followed by Brett Myers and Vince Velasquez with five each. Late Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay trailed slightly behind with four.

Through seven starts this season, Nola has surrendered just 36 hits, seven walks, and 14 runs (all earned), while striking out 49, spanning 43 2/3 innings.

The right-hander is now 3-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 0.98 WHIP ratio on the season, with one of his three victories being his first career nine-inning complete game shutout — a dominant home victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 18.

In his overall career at Citizens Bank Park, specifically, Nola is now 35-17 recording a 2.90 ERA and 1.087 WHIP, while striking out 562 while walking just 139 through 474 2/3 innings.

It is good to see Nola have early-season success in his seventh year in red pinstripes. What many will want to see, however, is him sustaining that success into the latter months of the regular season — as well as hopefully Red October.