September 14 – José Quintana pitches a brilliant seven innings and hits three three-run homers, helping New York beat the host Philadelphia Phillies 11–3 on Friday.
Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo each drove in three runs in the Mets’ six-run fifth inning, which was too aggressive for Quintana (9-9).
The left-hander gave up just three hits, no balls and four hits in his final four games for New York, finishing with a 3-0 record and a 0.36 ERA.
Francisco Lindor drove in two runs for the Mets (81-66), who were seven games behind the first-place Phillies (88-59) in the National League East before leaving because of lower back pain. Philadelphia escaped the shutout when Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer with two outs in the ninth.
The teams will meet twice this weekend and four times starting next Thursday in New York.
After allowing no hits through the first four innings, Aaron Nola (12-8) struggled in the fifth. He gave up two straight singles in the bottom of the inning before Alvarez hit a curve ball over the left field foul pole to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
After Alvarez’s eighth home run, four-hitter Nimmo hit his 19th homer – his first since August 18. Nimmo’s blast hit another Nora bend and landed in the first row of seats in right field.
Lindor’s run in the sixth inning extended the lead to 7–0, and Harrison Bader hit a two-run triple off Tyler Gilbert in the eighth. Infielder Cody Clemens pitched the ninth for Philadelphia, allowing Pete Alonso to hit his 32nd home run.
The Phillies batters were quiet until Marsh exploded in the ninth.
Bryce Harper doubled to lead off the first with two outs before Nick Castellanos struck out. John Rojas hit an infield single in the third inning but was caught at second. In the sixth inning, Kyle Schwarber was in trouble after hitting a two-out infield single.
Nola was charged with six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He reached base twice and struck out seven. His most recent game against the Mets was a four-hit shutout on May 14.
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