Nola just can’t get on a roll this season. He barely made it out of the first inning after allowing four runs, facing nine batters, and throwing 35 pitches. Then, he settled in nicely and threw just 22 pitches over his next two innings which inspired hope he’d be able to right the ship. That was until the wheels fell off in the sixth inning when he loaded the bases with one out, was pulled, and reliever Jose Ruiz let two more runs score. Nola now has an ugly 6.65 ERA through four starts and is scheduled to face the Mets in his next go-around.

This was one of those frustrating Nola games where there was constant traffic on the bases and he couldn’t get the Cardinals hitters to chase much of anything outside the strike zone. His fifth inning was especially frustrating as Thomas Saggese reached on an infield single – aided by a poor throw by Alec Bohm – to start the inning and scored on a double from Yohel Pozo to break the scoreless tie. Then, Nola seemed to tighten up and walked Nolan Arenado and Brendan Donovan back-to-back to force in another run. Again, more of a frustrating start than a bad one per se. He’s scheduled to face the Giants in his next start.

Nola worked around a base hit in the first before surrendering a two-run homer to Enrique Hernández in the second. He then kept the Dodgers off the board until Michael Conforto took him deep for a solo shot in the sixth. The two homers would do all the damage on Nola, who completed the sixth to finish with a quality start. He struck out two. It was a step in the right direction after giving up five runs against the Nationals in his first start. The 31-year-old right-hander is in line for a matchup against the Cardinals in St. Louis on Friday.