WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Nola’s right ankle sprain is not healing as quickly as the Phillies originally anticipated and it does not sound like he will throw a bullpen session this weekend at Sutter Health Park.
The team hoped to get Nola back on the mound for a ‘pen session before one of the games against the Athletics but Nola is still sore. Manager Rob Thomson said in Colorado earlier in the week that Nola was still experiencing tenderness when putting on his shoe.
“No bullpen today. He was still a little sore today. It’s day by day. We’ll see if he’s OK tomorrow,” Thomson said before the second of a three-game series.
Asked if Nola’s recovery was taking longer than he initially expected, Thomson said, “Originally, yeah. I thought by this weekend he’d be throwing a bullpen but he still feels it in there. There’s no sense in pushing it.”
Combine that with the fact that the mounds at the minor-league stadium the A’s are calling home from 2025-27 have been described as substandard by pitchers and it makes even less sense to push it. Zack Wheeler called the mound on the field and in the bullpen “terrible” after pitching 6⅔ scoreless innings Friday night and Jordan Romano also looked uncomfortable.
Nola (1-7, 6.16 ERA) was placed on the 15-day injured list on May 16 with the ankle sprain. He suffered the injury a week earlier and pitched through it for two starts before the Phillies shelved him. This stint on the injured list is his first in more than seven years.
Sosa day to day
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Edmundo Sosa hurt his left wrist on a swing late in Friday’s win and was removed in the ninth inning for Bryson Stott. Sosa would have started Saturday vs. lefty Jeffrey Springs if not for the injury. Instead, Stott was in the lineup against a southpaw for the first time since April 8.
“I was planning on play Sosa,” Thomson said. “My intention was to try not to upset the apple cart here. But his wrist is bothering him a little bit.”
Sosa is 14-for-35 this season against lefties, hitting .400. Stott is 7-for-30 (.233).
“Stotty will play (Sunday) against the right-hander and then we’re off Monday,” Thomson said. “Hopefully we don’t need (Sosa) and he gets three days off.”
