Aaron Nola will start series finale at Washington as Phillies temporarily move to six-man rotation

WASHINGTON — For at least one week, the Phillies’ starting rotation will go from a handful to a six pack.

Aaron Nola met the team here Thursday and will come back from three months on the injured list to start Sunday, as expected, against the Washington Nationals. But instead of bumping a starter to the bullpen, manager Rob Thomson decided to use a six-man rotation for at least one turn.

“Once for sure,” Thomson said. “Then we’ve got some other ideas how to attack this thing going forward.”

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Among those ideas: using two starters in tandem for a start or skipping each starter once through the rotation. For now, though, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, and Nola will start Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, followed by Ranger Suárez at home Monday against the Seattle Mariners. Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo line up Tuesday and Wednesday.

In choosing now to move to a six-man rotation, the Phillies will build in extra rest for Wheeler, Sánchez, and Suárez, in particular, while the team is in the midst of playing 24 games in 25 days.

Wheeler reported more soreness than usual in his shoulder after an Aug. 2 start. An MRI didn’t reveal structural damage or spark other concerns from the medical staff, but Wheeler’s average fastball velocity was down nearly 2 mph last Sunday in Texas.

Suárez also experienced a dip in velocity en route to a 6.59 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break, although radar readings aren’t always a sign of trouble for the finesse lefty. Command has been a bigger problem. Thomson suggested that Suárez may be fatigued, a theory the pitcher shot down.

“I feel good, actually,” he said this week through a team interpreter. “I know I’ve had a couple rough starts, and everybody’s wondering if it could be fatigue. But it’s not.”

Meanwhile, Sánchez is second in the National League with 150⅔ innings pitched after working a career-high 181⅔ last season.

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So, yes, there are benefits to a six-man rotation.

“Just getting these guys some extra rest,” Thomson said. “Because we’ve been grinding on them pretty hard all year. The one downside to it is you’ve got take somebody out of your bullpen, so you’re a little bit short there. But we’ll just have to figure it out.”

Indeed, the Phillies would carry only seven relievers, with Jhoan Duran, Matt Strahm, Orion Kerkering, David Robertson, and Tanner Banks seemingly locked into spots. José Alvarado will rejoin the bullpen Tuesday at the end of his 80-game PED suspension, leaving one spot for Jordan Romano, Joe Ross, and Max Lazar. Only Lazar has minor-league options.

But the Phillies are eager to get Nola back on the mound for the first time since May 14. He went on the injured list two days later with a sprained right ankle that led to a stress fracture in his right rib cage.

Nola threw 84 pitches Tuesday night in his third tuneup in triple A and struck out 11 batters in 5⅔ scoreless innings in Buffalo, N.Y.

“It felt good to get the pitch count up a little bit and get back in the sixth inning,” Nola said. “The arm feels great; the ankle feels good. I’m glad to be able to finally get back on the field and catch and throw normally. I’m just excited to get back on the mound again for these guys and give them a chance to win again.”

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The Phillies didn’t touch down in Washington until 2 p.m. Thursday — less than five hours before first pitch — after sitting on the runway for five hours Wednesday night due to maintenance problems with their Delta charter.

“I fell asleep on the plane twice while we were on the tarmac,” Thomson said, “and thought we’d landed in D.C.”

At roughly 3:30 a.m., the decision was made to stay overnight in Cincinnati. Director of team travel Jameson Hall and deputy Michael Roche scrambled to find hotel rooms, not easy with the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament in town. Thomson called them “the MVPs” of the trip.

“They did a heck of a job taking care of us,” Thomson said. “These things happen sometimes. You can’t control it. You’ve just got to keep moving forward.”

Third baseman Alec Bohm will stay with triple-A Lehigh Valley through Friday, and “then we’ll see,” Thomson said. Bohm, sidelined since July 19 with a rib fracture, homered Wednesday night for the IronPigs. … Ten days after requesting his release, triple-A outfielder Oscar Mercado signed a minor-league contract to rejoin the Phillies and was reassigned to Lehigh Valley. …

The Nationals designated first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for assignment and reinstated outfielder Dylan Crews, who was in the starting lineup on Thursday, from the 60-day injured list. Crews had been out since May with a left oblique strain. Lowe was hitting a career-worst .216 in 119 games for Washington, with 16 homers and 68 RBIs. …

Schedule/programming alert: Sunday’s series finale is set to begin at 11:35 a.m. and will be televised by Roku. … In a rematch of opening day, Wheeler (10-5, 2.68 ERA) is scheduled to face Nationals lefty MacKenzie Gore (5-12, 4.09) at 6:45 p.m. Friday.