Friday night's Philadelphia Phillies' win against the division rival Atlanta Braves was full of action. Trea Turner powered the offense by blasting two home runs off Braves left-hander Max Fried. On the pitching side, Aaron Nola picked up another career milestone in recording the win.
Nola pitched six innings in Friday night's win. During his time on the mound, the right-hander allowed three runs on five hits — including two home runs — while retiring eight Braves hitters on strikes. His line was good enough to record the win, bringing the 31-year-old to 10-4 on the season.
Aaron Nola picks up impressive career milestone in Phillies' victory
His win was not just his 10th of the season but also Nola's 100th recorded win of his career. In reaching the milestone, the Phillies starter joins just nine other pitchers who have won as many games with the club. He's two wins shy of passing Curt Schilling to be seventh on the franchise win list and 15 wins short of Cole Hamels, who recently retired with the Phillies.
The LSU product won his first game with the club on July 26, 2015, in his second MLB start against the Chicago Cubs. Since then, Nola has been moving his way up the franchise leaderboards in other stat categories as well.
Nola ranks sixth in franchise history in bWAR (33.5) behind the likes of Robin Roberts, Steve Carlton, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Hamels and Schilling. He also ranks fourth in strikeouts (1,689) behind just Carlton, Roberts and Hamels. Nola has recorded the seventh most games started (253) in a Phillies uniform.
After signing a seven-year deal and likely to remain a Phillie for the entirety of his career, Nola has a real shot at becoming a franchise legend when he throws his final pitch. He has drawn criticism from fans over the course of his career — some warranted, most not — but when all is said and done, the right-hander from Louisiana will rank near the top of many pitching categories for this franchise that has been around since 1883.
While all of these accolades are nice, the ultimate goal and thermometer for a player's success is championships. Nola has been with Phillies teams that have won just 63 games (2015), teams that have made deep postseason runs, and is now part of a team that is on pace to surpass 100 wins this season. He will look for his shot to help bring a World Series back to Philadelphia over the next few seasons.