The 31-year-old right-hander racked up six strikeouts in what was his finest start of the season while allowing only one base on balls. The only damage done against him came on an RBI double off the bat of Pete Crow-Armstrong in the second inning. Aside from that, Nola was in complete command. He got 16 swings and misses on 99 pitches on the night — four or more on each of his changeup, knuckle curve and cutter — while posting a CSW of 30 percent. He’ll look to further improve upon his 5.40 ERA and 1.40 WHIP when he takes on the Diamondbacks at home on Saturday.

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.