PHILADELPHIA — For the first four innings, the Mets couldn’t crack Aaron Nola. In the fifth, they broke him.
Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo each hit three-run shots off the right-hander Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, with Harrison Bader hitting one off left-hander Tyler Gilbert in the eighth to pad the lead. Jose Quintana tossed seven shutout innings and the Mets steamrolled the Philadelphia Phillies, 11-3, in the first game of a critical three-game series.
However, the Mets lost Francisco Lindor after the sixth inning to lower-back soreness. The NL MVP candidate and the team’s undisputed leader hit a double into the right-center field gap off Max Lazar to drive in Harrison Bader, but was caught off the bag to end the inning. He slid in the dirt about 1/4 of the way to third to try to avoid the tag by Trea Turner but was unable to do so.
The shortstop winced when he walked back to the dugout, no doubt sending the fanbase into a panic.
Lindor has not missed a game all season. Having played 161 and 160 in each of the past two seasons, he takes immense pride in his durability and availability. Lindor finished 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
Quintana (9-9) limited the Phillies to only three hits and struck out four. The game began as a pitcher’s duel between him and Nola but that quickly ended once the fifth inning began.
Nola retired the first 12 batters he faced. For the second game in a row, the Mets flirted with the possibility of being no-hit. But then Jose Iglesias broke it up with a leadoff single to right, Tyrone Taylor hit one to left and Francisco Alvarez banged one off the left-field foul pole for his second home run in as many games.
The hit parade continued after Bader struck out, with Lindor and Mark Vientos getting in on the action. Nola’s vaunted knuckle curve wasn’t curving the way it was supposed to. With the count full to Brandon Nimmo, he threw one right over the heart of the plate.
It was an absolute meatball fit for Sunday gravy.
Nimmo drove it over the right-center field fence into the stands, putting the Mets up 6-0.
Nola (12-8) was charged with six earned runs on six hits, walking two and striking out seven in 4 1/3 innings. He’s failed to get out of the fifth inning in back-to-back starts.
Lindor’s double made it 7-0. The Mets picked up right where they left off without him, putting two on with two out in the eighth and Lazar still in the game.
But then the Phillies went to the bullpen for a left-hander to counter Bader. The right-handed hitting center fielder has struggled to hit lefties all season, coming into the game with a .198 average against southpaws and a .587 OPS. Gilbert threw him a cutter on a full count and Bader hammered it into the left field stands, giving the Mets a 10-0 lead and allowing the Phillies to pitch a position player in the top of the ninth.
Kody Klemens gave up a homer to Pete Alonso to make it 11-0. Brandon Marsh hit a three-run shot off left-hander Alex Young in the bottom of the inning to end the Mets’ shutout bid.
Now seven games behind the Phillies (88-59) in the NL East, it’s unlikely the Mets (81-66) can overtake them in the division standings, but if they keep up this streak they could overtake either the Arizona Diamondbacks (first place in the NL Wild Card standings) or the San Diego Padres (second place). At the very least, they continue to hold off the Atlanta Braves, albeit by a slim margin.
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