Aaron Nola rocked on 2 days' rest as Phillies make 4th attempt to clinch NL wild card

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Aaron Nola's bid to save the Philadelphia Phillies' shaky playoff hopes by starting on two days' rest did not go well, and he was pulled after being rocked for three runs in the first inning.

With the Phillies' attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic collapse, Nola was hit hard Saturday night on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0.

The Phillies turned to Nola on short notice after he struck out eight over 88 pitches and six innings in his last start Wednesday and took the loss as Philadelphia fell to Milwaukee 4-1.

The Phillies lost the next two games headed into Saturday and saw their NL wild-card lead over Arizona whittled to one game. Arizona plays Saturday night against San Diego.

The Phillies are 9-13 in September. Their magic number remained at two headed into Saturday.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin. The Diamondbacks got hot and took a six-game winning streak into Saturday’s game, and they hold the tiebreaker over the Phillies.

The Padres and Chicago Cubs have clinched wild-card spots.

AL hits leader Yandy Diaz hit a leadoff double and Nola hung a knuckle-curve that Junior Caminero hit for a two-run homer. Caminero’s 42nd homer gave him 101 RBIs.

Victor Mesa Jr. doubled and scored when Richie Palacios lined a 101-mph shot off the right field wall for the 3-0 lead.

The Phillies hoped Nola could make it at least once through the order. He instead lasted only 21 pitches. Tanner Banks pitched the second inning.

Should the race come down to Sunday, the Phillies will be forced to throw ace Zack Wheeler, which would burn him for potential Game 1 or 2 starts in the NL Wild Card Series.

Mattingly said the Phillies only briefly flirted with the idea of bumping up Wheeler a day.

Nola skipped his usual bullpen session Friday so he could take the mound against the AL East champion Rays. Mattingly said the right-hander throws 40-to-50-pitch bullpen sessions between starts and might not go much longer than that Saturday.

“If anybody's built for this,” Mattingly said, “it's probably Nola. He's a guy that's probably more old-school than anybody.”

The Phillies are in a bind with All-Star lefty Jesús Luzardo still on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Luzardo can be activated on Sunday and would be available to pitch if the Phillies need him.

The Phillies were shut out for the 12th time this season in Friday's 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay and have scored two runs over the last 27 innings. They have homered only once in their last 55 innings.

Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto entered in an 0-for-32 funk that’s dipped his average to .206.

NL batting leader and starting second baseman Luis Arraez is out indefinitely with a severely sprained left ankle. His absence sparked some lineup shuffling the last two games, with Bryce Harper back at first base and Bryan De La Cruz starting in right field. Bryson Stott was again at second base.

The Phillies could have clinched a wild card as early as Wednesday. They started Saturday — where heavy rain had a tarp on the field — suddenly in the conversation on the Philly sports scene as a team potentially poised to join the short list of worst collapses in franchise history.

Trea Turner was moved to the leadoff spot while Kyle Schwarber was dropped to second in the order.

“I just think there's pressure all the time,” Mattingly said ahead of the game. “I've always felt if you put pressure on yourself all the time to perform and hold yourself to a standard, this game is really no different than any other game. Obviously, we know there's a lot at stake. That's the beauty of kind of playing at a level all the time.”

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Nola pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Nola pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Nola pitches during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas city council candidate was arrested Saturday morning on a misdemeanor charge for “riot participation" in connection with behavior authorities said they observed at a protest against the shooting of a Venezuelan man by a federal immigration officer.

Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and special agents took Misael Ramos, 40, into custody around 8:45 a.m. Saturday on an outstanding warrant “stemming from his actions” during a Sunday protest, the agency's media department wrote in an unsigned email. Protesters on Sunday had been demonstrating against the shooting of Wilber Rafael Garces Perez in Austin.

Ramos, who is running for city council in Austin, “was captured on camera taking construction barricades, sandbags, and other items and attempting to obstruct traffic,” the department said. The department also provided photos and video it said captured “some of Ramos' actions” at the scene.

Ramos, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, denies any wrongdoing and will contest the charge, his campaign said in a news release.

“I didn’t see any riots,” said Ramos’ attorney, Edmund “Skip” Davis. “I saw people out there chanting and protesting.”

Ramos was released from custody during a news conference outside the county jail Saturday, with the crowd erupting in cheers. Ramos thanked those for being there, saying it was “one of the craziest mornings I have had in a long time.” He spoke of his surprise arrest and criticized federal immigration raids in the community.

“When we fight,” he said, to which those gathered replied, “we win!”

Garces Perez was shot Sunday and then taken to a detention center after an encounter with an immigration officer. An attorney for Garces Perez has said he was an asylum seeker and had a valid work permit.

“Like the hundreds of Austinites who were shocked to hear news that an ICE officer shot someone in the back, Misael quickly joined people at the scene of the incident to offer his condemnation of the incident and show solidarity by holding the line in the protest, chanting, and amplifying the incident through campaign channels,” Ramos' campaign manager, Jeffrey Clemmons, said in a statement.

Kristen Dark, a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff's Office, confirmed in an email that Ramos was booked into the agency's custody around 9:30 Saturday morning on a charge of riot participation.

Garces Perez was making a DoorDash delivery Sunday afternoon when ICE officers in an unmarked truck sideswiped his car twice, his attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch has said. He was shot and taken to a hospital, then released into ICE custody with a bullet still in his back, she said.

ICE and DHS haven’t said what led to the shooting beyond that Garces Perez was “the subject of a targeted vehicle stop.”

Rankin reported from Richmond, Virginia.

People speak during a demonstration where a man was shot in his vehicle by an ICE officer, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Joel Angel Juarez)