PHILADELPHIA — In the second inning, and then again in the sixth, an old bugaboo reared its head for Phillies righthander Aaron Nola against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The long ball. He was burned by a pair of home runs in his first start of the season against the Washington Nationals, and burned ag ain Saturday in a 3-1 loss to star-studded L.A. First to go deep was Kiké Hernandez, who drilled a hanging knuckle curve over the left-field fence, erasing a 1-0 Phillies lead with the two-run shot. The second was a solo bomb to right center by Michael Conforto, extending the Dodgers’ advantage. “I didn’t think his stuff was quite as good as it normally is,” manager Rob Thomson said. “His velocity was down a little bit. His command was down a little bit. But he battled. He got through six. “He made a couple mistakes. The breaking ball to Hernandez backed up into his wheelhouse. The cutter on Conforto, he didn’t quite get it there. … He doesn’t quite have his fastball yet. It’ll come in time, as the weather warms up. Some guys are just like that. I trust him though, because he’s going to battle.” Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola speaks with reporters after facing the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, April 5, 2025. (MediaNews Group / Tribune Publishing) Nola gave up 30 home runs last season, which was tied for third most in all of baseball, and surrendered 32 the previous year (a spike from 19 in 2022). The Phillies scratched across a run in the first inning before 23-year-old Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki settled in to retire nine in a row and 12 of 13. “I know his stuff’s big, and like I said yesterday, I like watching talent,” Thomson said of Sasaki. “Sometimes you’d rather watch it on TV than live, but I love talent and I respect it.” The Phillies saw the young righty, whose four-seam fastball on four occasions has been clocked at 102.5 mph, up close and personal. He effectively mixed his four-seamer and splitter with a changeup, cutter, knuckle curve and slider before manager Dave Roberts removed him after just 68 pitches. Nola, who dropped to 0-2, gave up seven hits in six innings, striking out two and walking one. Not a terrible start, but not good enough to beat the defending World Series champs. If only he could eliminate those pesky home runs. “Grinded through it,” Nola said. “Kiké hit a pretty big homer right there. … The ball was up today. I struggled to get the fastball down in the zone, especially my four-seam. And the curveball was not that sharp today. … I made some good pitches when I needed to with some guys on base. But other than that, I was kind of off today.” Three of the four home runs Nola has surrendered this season have come off the first pitch of the at-bat. “I just need to throw a little better pitches,” he said. The Phillies’ quiet bats didn’t help. They generated just three hits (well, technically four, counting when Bryce Harper reached in the ninth on what should have been scored an E5). It also didn’t help that Bryson Stott got doubled off of first base in the bottom of the fifth on a Kyle Schwarber lineout to right — before a tagging-up Realmuto could score from third. “It’s 3-2 with Schwarber up and a player trying to stay out of a double play, and we ran into a double play,” Thomson said. “So, what are you going to do?” Stott confirmed he was stealing and credited the throw by Teoscar Hernandez. “I think the only ball to the outfield that I get doubled off on is that — a hard line drive right to the right fielder,” he said. “Teoscar’s got a good arm and he made a perfect throw. If he bounces the throw, I’m safe.” Thomson sat Edmundo Sosa for the third straight game. He finally sent him in to pinch hit in the eighth, and he promptly struck out looking. Before Thomson yanked him from the lineup — because of a dogmatic adherence to righty/lefty matchups — Sosa was hitting a red-hot .600. Another bat that was quiet was Shohei Ohtani’s. He’s 1-for-8 so far in this series, including 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout on Saturday. He’s still hitting close to .300, and as talented as the Dodgers’ roster is, Ohtani has yet to return to the mound after an elbow injury kept him from pitching last season. But on Saturday, he threw a 26-pitch bullpen session — his second session this year. The already loaded Dodgers, whom the Phillies could feasibly see in October, plan to use a six-man rotation when Ohtani takes the mound again. But if the Phils want to get to the postseason, Nola needs to find his footing and keep the ball in the park. —— Christiaan DeFranco covers the Eagles, Phillies and other sports for MediaNews Group / Tribune Publishing. Follow him on X at @the_defranc. ...read more read less