Aaron Nola’s ankle recovery is taking longer than expected, Phillies say: ‘No sense in pushing it’

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Aaron Nola’s recovery from his right ankle sprain is taking a bit longer than the Phillies had hoped.

Nola is holding off on throwing from a mound until he feels no discomfort in his ankle, and he still felt sore on Saturday. Phillies manager Rob Thomson initially expected Nola to be ready to throw a bullpen session during the weekend series against the Athletics, but that is now looking unlikely.

“I thought by this weekend he’d be throwing a bullpen, but he still feels it in there. So just no sense in pushing it,” Thomson said.

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When Nola initially was placed on the injured list on May 16, Thomson said he did not expect him to take much longer than 15 required days. He also thought Nola would bypass a rehab assignment. If Nola is reinstated as soon as he was eligible, he will have only missed two starts.

“We’ll just have to wait and see how much time it is,” Thomson said. “[If] it gets too long, and I don’t know how long that would be, we’d probably have to get him on some hitters.”

Thomson initially intended for Edmundo Sosa to be in the lineup on Saturday against A’s lefty Jeffrey Springs, but held him out in favor of Bryson Stott due to soreness in Sosa’s wrist.

Sosa got a “zinger” off his left wrist in the ninth inning on Friday after hitting a ball off the end of his bat, according to Thomson.

Sosa is hitting .354 in 25 games this season.

Thomson isn’t overly concerned about the utility infielder. Sosa is not scheduled to start on Sunday since right-hander Gunnar Hoglund is pitching for the Athletics, and the Phillies have an off day on Monday.

“Hopefully we don’t need him, and he gets three days off,” Thomson said. “I think he’d be fine.”

Jesús Luzardo (5-0, 1.95 ERA) is scheduled to start the series finale against Hoglund (1-2, 5.06) on Sunday.