Padres solve Aaron Nola with five-run fifth, even NLCS with 8-5 victory over the Phillies

SAN DIEGO — The Phillies and Padres were always going to make for an interesting National League Championship Series matchup. They finished their seasons with almost identical records, the Padres at 89-73, and the Phillies at 87-75. Both teams can say their starting pitching is a strength, and both teams have big boppers in the middle of the order.

But their greatest similarity might be in their identity.

Like the Phillies, the Padres weren’t expected to advance to the NLCS. And like the Phillies, the Padres defeated a 100-plus win behemoth to get there, first taking down the 101-win Mets in the NL wild-card series and then ousting the 111-win Dodgers in the NL Division Series.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Aaron Nola inspired by the long road his brother Austin traveled to the major leagues

The Padres have flourished in the underdog role. They’re scrappy. They have fight. Against the Cardinals, and especially against the Braves, the Phillies were facing teams that had plenty to lose. But the Padres, like the Phillies, are playing with house money.

So, what happens when there isn’t an obvious underdog? You get a four-run second inning for the Phillies, followed by a two-run bottom of the inning by the Padres. Then a five-run fifth for the Padres, en route to an 8-5 Padres victory in Game 2 on Wednesday.

That’s what happens.

The series moves to Philadelphia for Game 3 at 7:37 p.m. Friday.

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Initially, it seemed like fortune might favor the Phillies. In the second inning, after Padres starter Blake Snell retired the top of the Phillies’ order, 1-2-3, they scored four runs thanks to a throwing error by Juan Soto and a few more defensive miscues, including a fly ball hit by Matt Vierling that Soto lost in the sun.

But the Padres responded quickly. In their half of the second, Brandon Drury and Josh Bell hit back-to-back solo home runs off Phillies starter Aaron Nola. Nola recovered to retire the next nine batters, but he was struggling with his command and allowing some hard contact.

The dam burst open in the fifth. Nola allowed four hits and two more runs, which tied the game at 4. Left-handed reliever Brad Hand came in for Nola to record the final out, but hit Jake Cronenworth to load the bases and allowed two RBI singles instead. Nola allowed six earned runs and seven hits in 4⅔ innings, striking out six.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ Rob Thomson had no answers in an epic meltdown against the Padres in Game 2 of the NLCS

“At this point in the season, we’re playing against the best teams,” Nola said. “So it stinks that those guys gave me a 4-0 lead and I gave it right back up, but I’m going to flush this one and focus on my next one.”

Manager Rob Thomson said he believed Hand matched up best against left-handed batter Cronenworth, but conceded that because of the three-batter rule, there was a bit of risk involved (that ended up playing in the Padres’ favor). He said it was too early to go to left-handed reliever José Alvarado, especially since Alvarado pitched in Game 1.

“[Hand has] had a lot of success, veteran guy,” Thomson said. “I thought that was the right guy to go to, even though you’ve got [right-handed hitters] Drury and Bell behind him. Drury got a base hit. It wasn’t really hit all that hard. It looked like Bell didn’t even know he hit — where he hit the ball. Just kind of inside-outed it.”

Andrew Bellatti came in after Hand and recorded the third out, but by that point the damage had been done.

Part of the reason the Phillies have gotten this deep in the playoffs is because they’ve been able to curtail the spiral of despair that we became accustomed to seeing earlier in the season. It’s been a while since they’ve had a nightmare of an inning like they did on Wednesday afternoon.

» READ MORE: Phillies’ bullpen depth will be tested against the Padres

The Phillies did get important contributions in unlikely places to keep the game somewhat close. Connor Brogdon retired all three batters in the sixth, ending with a strikeout of Soto. After David Robertson allowed a solo home run by Manny Machado in the seventh, and singles by Cronenworth and Bell, Kyle Gibson came in to record the final out. He allowed just one hit and one walk in 1⅓ innings.

But the Phillies weren’t able to muster enough offense to overcome the deficit. After starting the eighth with a solo home run by Rhys Hoskins and a J.T. Realmuto single, Bryce Harper grounded into a double play and Nick Castellanos struck out. Padres closer Josh Hader retired Alec Bohm, Jean Segura, and Vierling in the ninth inning to end the game.

Thomson made a point of noting that the Phillies were in a similar position after losing Game 2 of the NLDS in Atlanta. They came home with a 1-1 split and won their next two games to close out the series.

“We went into Atlanta, won the first one, lost the second one,” Thomson said. “Disappointing game. We had a day off and came back home in front of 46,000 raucous people and played really well.

“I expect to do the same thing.”