NEW YORK (AP) — Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola threw 56 pitches to batters Friday as he ramped up his comeback from a sprained right ankle and fractured rib that have sidelined him since May.
A 32-year-old right-hander, Nola could make his first minor league rehab start next week.
“The ankle went a lot longer than I thought it was going to, but the ankle felt really good today and the rib felt really good today,” Nola said.
He hurt the ankle during agility drills on May 8. Nola made a pair of ineffective starts and was placed on the IL effective May 15.
Nola threw a bullpen session June 1 and felt sore a few days later. An MRI showed a stress fracture of a rib, Phillies manager Rob Thomson revealed June 10.
“I’d like to see him get to at least 90 pitches,” Thomson said. “The first time out, it’ll probably be the same as this was today, 55, 60 pitches. And then we’ll start graduating 15 pitches per outing to get him to 90.”
Nola is on the IL for a physical injury for the first time since 2017. He was 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA in nine starts and 49 2/3 innings.
“I feel like I have a lot of bullets left right now,” Nola said. “But obviously I have to be smart about it, too.”
Nola has a 105-86 record and 3.78 ERA in 277 starts over 11 big league seasons. He allowed 13 runs over 8 2/3 innings with the bad ankle.
“The ankle, I use it a lot more than I thought I did. Both ankles,” he said.
Nola said the ankle injury caused the rib problem.
“I wasn’t able to rotate as much as I usually do. My rib, I guess, took the brunt of the work and ended up getting a stress fracture,” he said.
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