PHILADELPHIA (Interstat) — In a season marked by uncharacteristic struggle, Aaron Nola delivered a reminder of his enduring class.

The veteran right-hander took a perfect game into the sixth inning, struck out nine over eight dominant frames and moved into second place on the Philadelphia Phillies’ career strikeout list, leading the National League East champions to a 3-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Nola, who has battled ankle and rib injuries during what is easily his worst season since his 2015 debut, allowed just two hits and did not issue a walk. He outdueled Minnesota’s Joe Ryan in a crisp game that took just 2 hours, 23 minutes to complete before a crowd of 40,073.

The performance, while coming in a largely meaningless late-September game for the playoff-bound Phillies, provided a compelling case for his potential value in the upcoming postseason. Despite making 16 postseason starts over the last three years, Nola had not been named as one of the three scheduled starters for next week’s NL Division Series.

He improved his record to 5-10, while Ryan took the loss, falling to 13-10. Jhoan Duran earned his 32nd save of the season for Philadelphia, working a scoreless ninth inning despite allowing two hits.

The Phillies improved to 95-65, while the Twins fell to 69-91.

Nola was in complete command from the outset, retiring the first 15 batters he faced with a sharp mix of fastballs and breaking pitches. The Twins did not have a baserunner until Christian Vázquez led off the top of the sixth inning by breaking up the perfect game and the no-hitter simultaneously with a solo home run to left field.

Until that point, the only blemish on Nola’s line was a first-inning run charged to him, though it was unearned due to his own fielding. The Phillies had staked him to an early lead in the bottom of the first. Kyle Schwarber led off with a single and advanced to third on a Bryce Harper single. Alec Bohm then brought Schwarber home with a sacrifice fly to right field, giving Philadelphia a 1-0 lead.

The game remained tight until the bottom of the fifth, when shortstop Edmundo Sosa provided a crucial blow. Sosa launched a solo home run, his 11th of the season, to left-center field off Ryan to extend the Phillies’ lead to 2-0.

Minnesota immediately cut the deficit in half with Vázquez’s homer in the top of the sixth, but Philadelphia answered right back in the bottom half of the frame to reclaim the two-run advantage. Bohm sparked the rally with a single, and Brandon Marsh followed with an RBI double down the right-field line, scoring Bohm to make it 3-1.

Nola worked around the lone mistake to Vázquez to complete seven strong innings, and he returned for the eighth, setting down the Twins in order once more. He finished his night having thrown 101 pitches, 71 for strikes, and recorded his ninth strikeout for the final out of the eighth inning.

The Twins threatened in the ninth against Duran. Vázquez, who had both of Minnesota’s hits off Nola, led off with a single. After Byron Buxton struck out, Kody Clemens also went down on strikes for the second out. Ryan Jeffers then singled to center, moving the tying run to second base. But Duran induced a game-ending flyout to right field from Trevor Larnach to seal the victory.

The Phillies’ offense was paced by Sosa, who went 2-for-3 with the go-ahead home run, and Marsh, whose RBI double provided critical insurance. The team collected eight hits in total, compared to just four for the Twins.

The result defied the pregame betting lines, as the combined four runs fell well under the over/under of 8.5, though the Phillies did cover the spread as 1.5-run favorites. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a 5-3 Philadelphia win, and its ELO system gave the Phillies a 70.3% chance of victory.

The two teams will continue their three-game series on Saturday and Sunday, the final regular-season games for both clubs before the Phillies begin their postseason journey.