Right-hander Aaron Nola pitched seven strong innings as the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the visiting New York Mets 4-2 Friday night.
Nola (14-3) allowed one run on three hits, with one walk and 11 strikeouts against a Mets team that had scored 46 runs over the previous three games, including a franchise-record 24 in a victory in the opener of a doubleheader Thursday against the Phillies.
Nola improved to 9-0 at Citizens Bank Park this season and allowed four or fewer hits for the 15th time in 25 starts, tying Ken Howell (1989) for the second-most in team history, one behind Grover Cleveland Alexander (1915).
Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard (8-3), who had won four of his previous five starts, allowed four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five.
The Phillies got to Syndergaard early, scoring three runs in the first inning.
Leadoff hitter Cesar Hernandez lined a single to right field and Rhys Hoskins walked before Asdrubal Cabrera lined a run-scoring double to left. Nick Williams lined a single to center to score Hoskins and send Cabrera to third. Syndergaard got Carlos Santana to ground into a double play, with Cabrera scoring to make it 3-0.
The Mets got a run back in the fourth as Jeff McNeil led off by lining a single to center and advanced to third on a single by Austin Jackson. An out later, Todd Frazier hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
The Phillies responded in the bottom of the inning as Roman Quinn led off with a triple to left-center field and scored on Jorge Alfaro's line-drive single to center to make it 4-1.
Right-hander Victor Arano replaced Nola in the eighth and struck out the first two batters before McNeil doubled on a popup to shallow left off the glove of third baseman Maikel Franco. Jackson followed with his third hit, a single to left, to pull the Mets within 4-2. Left-hander Adam Morgan came in and caught Michael Conforto looking at a called third strike on a full count to end the inning.
Right-hander Pat Neshek pitched the ninth for his third save of the season.
--Field Level Media