Erstwhile Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola shined yet again on Monday night, locking up a fearsome Venezuelan offense in the semifinal round of the World Baseball Classic. If there was any doubt left about Nola’s ability to pitch at an elite level, he put it to rest with back-to-back brilliant outings for Team Italy.
After shutting down a tough Mexican team last Wednesday, Nola took the mound in a do-or-die matchup against Team Venezuela in the tournament’s penultimate round. Against a lineup that included Ronald Acuña Jr., William Conteras and Gleyber Torres, among other All-Stars, Nola shoved, allowing only a single run in four innings of work.
Aaron Nola's fantastic WBC run should give Phillies fans hope for this season
The 32-year-old had his patented curveball in vintage form, striking out three and surrendering just four base hits. The only blemish on the night was a solo homer off the bat of multiple time All-Star Eugenio Suárez.
Unfortunately, the Italians’ Cinderella run came to a screeching halt later on in the night when former Phillies trade deadline pickup Michael Lorenzen gave up the ghost in the later innings.
The crowd has erupted and Team Venezuela has finally broken through.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) March 17, 2026
Venezuela 4, Italy 2 and they have knocked Michael Lorenzen out of the game pic.twitter.com/hC3J2wDRqt
Nola’s fantastic outing comes on the heels of an even more dominant showing against Team Mexico to finish out pool play, wherein Nola fired five scoreless frames, yielding only four hits and punching out five opposing batters. All told, Nola has nine innings of one run ball to his name in this year’s WBC, giving Phillies fans plenty of optimism ahead of the 2026 regular season.
That good news couldn’t come at a better time, as longtime ace Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start the season on the shelf due to surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome, top prospect Andrew Painter is coming off of a rough 2025 season in Triple-A, and longtime punching bag Taijuan Walker is slated to receive regular turns through the rotation, at least to start the year. All that is to say that the Phillies sure could use some more certainty in their starting rotation, and it looks as though Aaron Nola may be able to provide just that.
Many fans may be sad to see the underdog Aaron Nola and Dante Nori-led Italian team bow out of this year’s World Baseball Classic, but for Phillies fans, it’s all sunshine and rainbows, as their ace of yesteryear looks to have recaptured some of his bygone form.