Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola dominated the Tampa Bay Rays on Independence Day, and he had a blast doing it against his former teammate Zach Eflin.

Nola and Eflin were teammates in Philadelphia for seven seasons, and have built a great bond over the years. It meant extra for Nola to defeat his former teammate, after 7.1 innings of one run baseball and a 3-1 victory for the Phils.

“Honestly it kind of felt like when I faced my brother. The emotion, the nerves — it was awesome.”

Nola faced his older brother Austin of the San Diego Padres last fall in the divisional round of the playoffs. The event made headline news, as it was the first sibling pair to ever face each other in the playoffs, and his older brother got the best of him. Austin tallied an RBI single off of Aaron, and helped the Padres to a victory in the matchup.

The two friends were dueling on the bump on the July 4th holiday, both going seven innings each and only allowing a combined three runs.

“It was fun facing Ef out there, we were with each other for so long, and he was nasty tonight too,” Nola remarked.

The Phillies have been on fire as of late, going 18-8 in the month of June, and winning seven of their last 10. They are competing in a heavy NL East division, and will need more strong performances out of Aaron Nola to propel them into the playoffs.