Even Phillies players were surprised by Rob Thomson's bold Game 3 pitching plan

Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson went into Game 3 of the NLDS on Wednesday with a pitching plan that he thought could get his team to Game 4. It was unorthodox. It was unexpected. But it worked to the tune of a resounding 8-2 win and saved the Phillies' season, at least for one more day.

Those watching at home could barely believe that Thomson removed Phillies starter Aaron Nola after two innings. The veteran looked sharp and had some of the best velocity we've seen is a long time. He threw two scoreless innings, giving the Phillies exactly what they needed against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and that was the end of his night.

Rob Thomson's bold Game 3 pitching plan was a surprise to Phillies players but it paid off

Thomson went to Ranger Suárez to start the third. While it started out ominously, the left-hander made his skipper look like a genius. Suárez's first batter was Tommy Edman, who took him deep for a solo home run to put the Dodgers on top 1-0. After that it was all Suárez, who went five innings, allowing just the one run on five hits with four strikeouts.

"They pretty much did exactly what we wanted," Thomson told the media following the win. "We wanted to use those guys to get as close to [Jhoan] Duran as we could, save some of the bullpen for tomorrow, if we won. Nola was really good, the plan was to go one time through the lineup, and Ranger is on to get [Shohei] Ohtani ... they executed."

Phillies shortstop Trea Turner, who delivered with a 3-for-5 night and two RBIs, was just as stunned by Thomson's bold move as fans watching from home, per On Pattison's Anthony SanFilippo.

"I didn't know the gameplan was for him to only go two innings," Turner said, per SanFilippo. "When he came out I was like, 'What are we doing?' He looked really good, man. That was the Nola I faced for years. That's the Nola I've seen pitch a lot of postseason games for us. When I saw he was throwing 95 in the first inning and he was throwing strikes, I thought he was back to his old self."

The night's biggest hero Kyle Schwarber, who crushed a mammoth 455-foot home run out of Dodger Stadium in the fourth inning to spark the offense, certainly didn't seem aware of the plan to remove Nola after two innings.

"I'm looking around and Nola's just doing his thing, and you see him start getting handshakes," Schwarber said. "We got our gameplan and we're going to stick to our guns and going to go with our gameplan, but I'm just like, 'Man, this guy's throwing the ball so well.'"

Nola did throw the ball well, avoiding the one big inning that plagued the second half of his season. Whether anyone besides Nola and his manager knew the details of the plan, it worked to perfection for the Phillies on Wednesday.

Despite being short, it was a confidence-inspiring outing for Nola and makes it even more likely that he'll be in play if the Phillies can win Game 4 on Thursday and push the Dodgers to a deciding Game 5.