About 45 minutes before Aaron Nola’s start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, he felt his neck lock up. “Felt like it needed to pop and it wouldn’t pop,” Nola said. “Just a little tight on a couple of certain movements.

Aaron Nola pitched six shutout innings in his first win of the season, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-2.

Not coincidentally, Nola freezes opposing batters much better when the temperature goes up. But the breezy warmth at Citizens Bank Park on this night helped him in another way, too. The more he pitched, the more a literal pain in his neck subsided.