Aaron Nola’s Cy Young Chances Take a Hit in Rare Stumble Vs. Cubs

Aaron Nola looked incredible early Sunday, striking out six Cubs in a row from the first through third innings with a wicked curveball and a dancing two-seam fastball.

Then things unraveled.

Nola, for the first time since September of 2015, his rookie year, allowed three home runs in a game. He was taken deep by Daniel Murphy and Anthony Rizzo within the span of three batters, then Javier Baez launched one to left-center two innings later.

Nola had the second-lowest home run rate in the majors entering Sunday's game. He had allowed just four homers in 91 innings at Citizens Bank Park before the Murphy bomb.

This start will surely affect his Cy Young chances. Nola struck out 11 but allowed four runs in 5⅔ innings as his ERA jumped to 2.23. Jacob deGrom is at 1.68 and Max Scherzer is at 2.22 with 249 strikeouts.

The Phillies won 20 of Nola's first 26 starts this season but, trailing 4-0 at the time of his exit, were poised to lose a second straight game behind him. If they do, it would be the first time it's happened all season.

It looks like Nola will have five more starts this season: Mets, Nationals, Mets, Braves, Braves again.