Aaron, Austin Nola throw parents into turmoil with postseason matchup in Phillies-Padres NLCS

Kevin Skiver

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Aaron, Austin Nola throw parents into turmoil with postseason matchup in Phillies-Padres NLCS image

Austin Nola made history by stepping to the plate in Game 2 of the NLCS with his brother Aaron on the mound. It was the first batter-pitcher matchup of siblings in the postseason.

The moment seemed to be gut-wrenching for their parents.

The brothers faced each other earlier this season, but the stakes Wednesday were the highest of their careers. The Phillies were leading the best-of-seven series 1-0 and Aaron was pitching well when Austin came up in the second inning.

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Little brother Aaron got the better of his big bro in their first at-bat, getting him to ground weakly to third baseman Alec Bohm.

Austin turned it around his next time up. On a perfectly executed hit-and-run between he and Ha-seong Kim, Austin singled to right-center, scoring Kim from first base to cut the Phillies' lead to 4-3 in the fifth.

It was easy to see the distress on the Nola parents' face after the hit.

When Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal talked to their dad, A.J., and their mom, Stacie (with the former wearing a Phillies jersey over a Padres jersey and a Padres hat), the conflict was abundantly clear.

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"There's a lot of anticipation, I was real anxious before the game, I'm kind of settled down a little bit now," A.J. told Rosenthal. "And once that first pitch got pitched it was a little better, but I just got a little bit nerve-wracking when Austin got up to the plate, so Aaron got him the first at-bat."

At Rosenthal's request, A.J. also explained the dual jerseys.

"It all started last year," he said. "When I had a thought to wear two jerseys when Aaron's pitching. I had Aaron's jersey on after Austin's jersey and when Austin was playing and Aaron wasn't then I . . . switched them around. So I had to keep that going you know?"

WORLD SERIES HISTORIES: Phillies | Padres

On having both of his kids in the NLCS, A.J. was pointed.

"Everything to this point is just so surreal," he said.

After the game, Austin talked about facing off against his brother.

"We both knew that we were gonna do everything we can to help our team win," he said. "And that was kinda understood -- the magnitude of the game, the magnitude of the situation -- there was not gonna be anything given up on both sides. He pitched his butt off, I thought he did an excellent job, we put together good at-bats on him."

Austin loosened up a bit in talking about his RBI single.

"It's a typical plate appearances verse my brother, I'm 0-2. Typical. I might as well just walk up there and tell him 'put your strikes on me.' Because that's what it feels like. I just battle, you know? I know the kind of pitcher he is. I know he's not gonna give in. I know he's gonna come right after me and give his best stuff. So I'm just up there trying to hit something hard through the middle and good things happen."

When asked if he was going to give Aaron the ball as a gift, Austin went a bit more business-like.

"Hopefully we don't see him again, because if I talk too much..." he trailed off, laughing. "But yeah I got some Christmas gifts in mind, Thanksgiving stuff, so we'll see what happens."

The reality is, Aaron will be upset after being knocked out soon after the hit and then taking an eventual 8-5 loss. Austin took Round 1, but this shouldn't be the only time in this series they see each other.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.