PHILADELPHIA – Jose Quintana turned the Citizens Bank bandstand into his personal sandbox Friday night with perhaps the defining performance of his two-year Mets career.
The left-hander was lucky at the beginning that several hard-hit balls landed in exactly the right places, survived and threw increasingly weaker balls as the game progressed.
He left the field after seven scoreless innings in the Mets’ 11-3 victory over the Phillies.
The three-run home run was the key to the Mets’ attack: Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader each hit one, but the party was marred by Francisco Lindor leaving the game in the seventh inning due to lower back pain, the team said.
The Mets, who began the first day of play ahead of the Braves for the NL’s third wild card, won for the 12th time in 14 games.
Quintana pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and four strikeouts without walking a batter. It was the third start in his last four in which the left-hander made it to at least the seventh inning without allowing an earned run.
His ERA dropped from 4.57 to 3.91.
That night, he struck out 13 of the last 14 batters he faced – Kyle Schwarber was the only Phillies batter to reach base during that time with an infield single in the sixth inning.
Alvarez and Nimmo each hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning, and the Mets came from a hitless home run against Aaron Nola to take a 6-0 lead.
Nola allowed two singles to start the inning by Jose Iglesias and Tyrone Taylor before Alvarez launched a huge drive that hit the foul post in left field.
The home run was the second in as many games for Alvarez, whose three-run shot in the ninth inning in Toronto on Wednesday gave the Mets a lead after Lindor Bowden ended Francis’ no-hit effort with a home run and scored two more runs.
But the Mets were just getting warmed up.
After Bader retired, Lindor and Mark Vientos each hit a single before Nimmo hit a ball into the right-field seats for his 19th home run of the season.
It was Nola’s last pitch, and he was replaced with only one out in the inning.
The Mets extended their lead in the sixth inning when Lindor’s RBI double put the Phillies behind 7-0. Bader’s double with two outs started the comeback.
Bader hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to make the game a walk-off.
Things got so ugly that the Phillies brought in infielder Kody Clemens (son of Roger) to pitch the ninth inning. For the Mets’ final run, Pete Alonso – in the great tradition of Mike Piazza – brought Clemens’ ball deep.
Alex Young allowed a three-run home run by Brandon Marsh in the ninth inning, which prevented the shutout.
