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.
“We’re making big plays when we need to, we’re getting big hits when we need to,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “There are a lot of different ways that we continue to get the job done.”
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 jammed his back sliding into second base.
He was removed for precautionary reasons and received treatment.
“I jammed it on the base going to second base on that last play that I made,” Lindor said. “I stepped my right foot down and just felt it down the lower back, so it’s definitely tight enough to just back off from it a little bit.”
Lindor 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 remained in the game for the bottom of the inning in order to give infield replacement Eddy Alvarez enough time to warm up.
Had the score been closer, Lindor would have continued playing and he expects to be back in the lineup Saturday. Lindor (2-for-4 with a double and a run scored) has not missed a game all season, even when Mendoza has suggested a break.
“I pride myself in trying to be available every day,” he said. “I will do whatever it takes today and tomorrow to be available.”
“It takes a lot to get Francisco out of a game,” Nimmo added.
Quintana (9-9) limited the Phillies to only three hits and struck out four. He gave up hard contact early but limited the damage and got better as the game went on. The game began as a scoreless 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 turned on an inside curveball and banged one off the left-field foul pole for his second home run in as many games.
“He’s in a position to make some really good swing decisions and do damage,” Mendoza said. “He’s getting to a spot mechanically where he’s ready to fire.”
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. Nimmo drove it into the stands for a 6-0 lead.
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.
“He was locating the ball very well and he put the ball in the corners,” Alvarez said. “We were just waiting for him to make a mistake. He did, and we got to him.”
Lindor’s double made it 7-0. The Mets picked up right where they left off without him. Lazar put two on with two out and 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 full-count cutter 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.
“We’ve been doing it for an extended period of time, but you know, it’s still Major League Baseball, they don’t give them to you,” Nimmo said. “We’ve got to go out there and earn it each and every night.”
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