Nola a key factor at, behind plate: 'He is a leader'

NEW YORK -- Padres catcher Austin Nola did it all in Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series against the Mets on Sunday night at Citi Field, driving in the winning run, calling a great game behind the plate and helping San Diego advance to the National League Division Series by blanking New York, 6-0.

The Padres will now face the Dodgers starting Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

“Coming to New York City, it’s everything you want,” Nola said. “You face [Max] Scherzer, [Jacob] deGrom and [Chris] Bassitt. They are the best in the game. That’s what we wanted. We came out of here victorious. We are going to enjoy this one tonight.”

Nola started his heroics in the second inning when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. With the count 0-2, Nola fouled off three pitches of Bassitt’s pitches before connecting with a curveball for a single to left field, scoring Josh Bell and Ha-Seong Kim.

“I was trying to get a pitch over in the middle of the plate,” Nola said. “[Bassitt] attacks the zone. He has good stuff and his stuff plays in the zone. I was just going up there and getting a pitch in the zone.”

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As for his work behind the plate, Nola was exceptional in helping guide right-hander Joe Musgrove through seven scoreless innings in which he allowed one hit and stuck out five batters. Musgrove said he has so much confidence whenever Nola is catching him.

“Oh, man, Nola has been awesome all year,” Musgrove said. “We work together during the offseason. We put in that work together. We knew what we went through to get to this moment. We were talking about it on the walk to the bullpen.

“Everything that we did all offseason -- the effort, the time, the attention to detail -- all the work we put in is for moments like this. Having a guy behind there and seeing the work that I’ve put in -- I saw the work he put in -- it brought us that much closer.”

Nola said Musgrove had every pitch working and his stuff was electric.

“Musgrove didn’t have to get much chase because he could throw his breaking balls, fastballs and cutters in the zone,” Nola said. “When you can do that, it’s just tough as a hitter when he has all his pitches working for strikes.”

What makes Nola a great defensive catcher? He cares about the pitching staff more than he cares about himself.

“Austin can do a lot of things in terms of his relationship with the pitchers,” said Padres general manager A.J. Preller. “He is a leader. He knows them really well. The pitchers have so much faith in him, we saw that in the last three [games against the Mets].”

The Mets not having had an answer for Musgrove through five innings, manager Buck Showalter had the umpires check the right-hander for foreign substances in the sixth. They found nothing. According to Nola, the umpire even checked his glove for substances and found nothing. Musgrove remained close to untouchable for his final two frames.

“I had an idea when [when the umpires] met together,” said Nola. “It is what it is. It’s baseball. It’s part of the game. We have to deal with it.”

If the Padres are able to advance to the NL Championship Series, there is a possibility Nola could get to play against his younger brother, Phillies ace Aaron Nola. The Phillies are in the other NLDS, facing the Braves.

“My family is excited for both of us to make it to the next round,” Austin Nola said. “We have to take care of business first. That’s the big thing. One game at a time. That’s how we are going to look at it.”