Twins offense comes up mostly empty against Aaron Nola in 3-1 loss to Phillies

PHILADELPHIA – In a forgettable season for Philadelphia Phillies righthander Aaron Nola, who has been one of the worst-performing starters in the major leagues this season, the Twins almost gave him an unforgettable night.

Nola carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, retiring his first 17 batters with only two balls leaving the infield before Christian Vázquez lofted a first-pitch sinker into the left field seats for a solo homer. Yeah, the same Vázquez who had two homers in his first 184 at-bats.

It wasn’t quite perfection from Nola, who completed eight innings, but it was a quality playoff tune-up as he handed the Twins a 3-1 loss in their series opener Friday at Citizens Bank Park. Former Twins closer Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth inning, earning his 16th save since he was traded to the Phillies at the trade deadline.

“It was hard because [Nola] throws everything down, and he dotted that down-and-away very good,” said Vázquez, who has five hits in eight at-bats since returning from a seven-week stint on the injured list. “That’s why he is one of the best pitchers in the league. I was cheating on that fastball. It was a [quick] inning with the first two batters, and I knew his fastball was coming to get an early out, so I was ready.”

Nola, having the worst season in an otherwise solid career, entered Friday with a 4-10 record and a 6.46 ERA through 16 starts, permitted only two hits and struck out nine. Kody Clemens hit a leadoff triple in the seventh inning, driving a changeup into the right-center gap in a two-run game. Nola responded with two strikeouts and a flyout.

It was only the third time in Nola’s past 10 starts he surrendered fewer than four runs. The Twins accumulated four baserunners all night, including two in the ninth inning.

“The curveball, when he has it going, he’s locating it well, the total movement on that pitch — it’s not one that you see very often,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

The Phillies scored a run in the first inning, aided by a defensive miscue from Twins first baseman Edouard Julien, allowing Kyle Schwarber to reach on an infield single when Julien’s foot came off the bag stretching to catch a throw. Bryce Harper followed with a single, and Alec Bohm hit a sacrifice fly to right field.

After Harper’s first-inning single, Ryan retired 12 of his next 14 batters. The velocity on his pitches was up about 2 mph.

“He learned to turn the page and focus on the next hitter,” Vázquez said. “That’s what great pitchers do.”

For Ryan, putting together a full season, it was difficult for him not to think about last year. He went down with a shoulder injury in August, and the Twins collapsed afterward, missing the postseason.

“I think I could do a little bit better job of making a couple of different decisions at times that could maybe help the team a little bit better, myself included,” Ryan said. “That’d be it. Had a good year coming off injury last year, which was pretty frustrating just to not be able to support the team. I think we could had gone to the playoffs and had a pretty good chance if I could have stayed on the field.”

Ryan accomplished a lot this year. He made his first All-Star team. He pitched a career-high 171 innings, posting a 3.47 ERA, while striking out 194 batters and walking 39. Coming back from a shoulder injury that shortened his season last year, he proved himself again as a frontline starter.

“Joe is obviously good at what he does,” Baldelli said. “Putting together a really good season like he has, I think, was the next step in his progression. ... A six-month season where you make every start, go out there and pitch as one of the better pitchers in all of baseball, that’s a different test. And he passed that test.”

BOXSCORE: Philadelphia 3, Twins 1

MLB standings

Duran, facing his old team for the first time, gave up hits to his two former catchers, a leadoff single to Vázquez and a two-out single to Ryan Jeffers.

“He knows,” Vázquez said, laughing. “He called me, ‘Hey, you’re my dad.’ ”