PHILADELPHIA – Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader hit three-run homers, Jose Quintana allowed three hits in seven shutout innings and the New York Mets routed the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies 11-3 Friday night for their 12th win in 14 games.
Alvarez and Nimmo homered in a three-run fifth inning off Aaron Nola (12-8), Alvarez's second three-run homer in a span of three at-bats.
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“We're playing well,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Bader homered in the eighth against Tyler Gilbert and Pete Alonso went deep in the ninth off infielder Kody Clemens. It was the first big league homer allowed in 12 career pitching appearances by Clemens. His father, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, gave up 363 in 24 seasons.
New York All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor had an RBI double and left in the middle of the seventh inning because of lower back soreness. Mendoza said it was precautionary and Lindor likely would've stayed in the game had the score been closer.
Philadelphia (88-59) leads the NL East by seven games over New York (81-66), which remained one game ahead of Atlanta (80-67) for the last NL wild card. The series opener began a stretch of seven games in 10 days between the rivals.
The Mets’ first three home runs were all three-run drives for the first time since Sept. 25, 2015, at Cincinnati, when Lucas Duda hit two and Curtis Granderson one.
Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth off Alex Young. The Phillies had won three in a row and nine of 11.
Quintana (9-9) struck out four, walked none and threw 62 of 94 pitches for strikes.
“Especially when you face a lineup like that, you need to be ahead,” Quintana said of the count. “I'm really happy how my stuff has been working.”
Before a sellout crowd of 44,607, Nola didn’t allow a hit through four innings.
“He was locating the ball well; we were just looking for the mistake,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez put the Mets ahead when he drove a hanging curve off the netting on the left-field foul pole.
“I stayed inside the ball,” Alvarez said.
Replays showed Jose Iglesias, who was on second, appearing to signal to Alvarez before the pitch.
He's getting to a spot mechanically where he's ready to fire," Mendoza said of Alvarez.
Nimmo also homered on a curveball. The ball ended up in the hands of a young Mets fan after a Phillies fan who caught it decided to give up the souvenir rather than throw an opponent’s homer back on the field.
Nola, who allowed six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. was booed on the walk back to the dugout.
“Made some bad pitches,” Nola said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: Reliever Dedniel Núñez will be sidelined for the rest of the season with a right flexor injury, manager Carlos Mendoza said. The 28-year-old rookie right-hander has a 2.31 ERA in 25 appearances but has pitched just once since July 23. Mendoza said Núñez will receive a PRP injection. In 35 innings, the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder struck out 48 and walked eight.
Phillies: 3B Alec Bohm (left hand strain) and INF Edmundo Sosa (back spasms) will begin rehab assignments on Saturday at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Bohm has been on the injured list since Sept. 3 while Sosa has been on the IL since Sept. 7.
UP NEXT
New York RHP Luis Severino (10-6, 3.74) takes the mound for the Mets against Philadelphia LHP Kolby Allard (2-0, 3.50) in the second contest of the three-game series on Saturday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb