Mets run Aaron Nola off the mound in the fifth as Phillies drop series opener to NL East rival

It’s been a while since the Phillies entered September holding on to a division lead. They are used to being the underdogs, but now, with 15 games left to play, they are the juggernauts. That comes with a different kind of pressure, and no regular season games will be as a high-pressure as this week’s — and next week’s — against the Mets.

They did not get off to the best start on Friday night, in an 11-3 loss. New York starter José Quintana held the Phillies to three hits over seven innings. All of the balls they hit hard were caught, except for one — Bryce Harper’s line drive double in the first inning — but bad luck aside, they could’ve had more hard contact.

Quintana induced seven ground-ball outs, and allowed no walks. He was efficient with his pitches, throwing 94 in total. He did a good job of missing barrels. The only hit that reached the outfield was Harper’s double.

“He just did a good job of mixing speeds,” said catcher J.T. Realmuto. “I thought we hit some balls hard earlier in the game, just didn’t get anything out of it. Once he got a lead, he did a great job of attacking the strike zone and making us put the ball in play.”

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At first, the Mets didn’t have any answers for Aaron Nola, either. The right-handed starter allowed back-to-back walks in the first, but bounced back by retiring his next 10 batters. But in the fifth, he began to struggle, and there was no reeling him back in.

Nola allowed a leadoff single to José Iglesias (his first hit of the night), a single to Tyrone Taylor, a three-run home run to Francisco Alvarez, two more singles, and another three-run home run to Brandon Nimmo, all in the same inning.

He walked off the mound with one out in the fifth, after digging his team into a 6-0 deficit. He threw 90 pitches over 4⅓ innings.

“I had a lot of pitches early on, I had a lot of three-ball counts, getting behind in counts,” Nola said. “Luckily, I battled through those counts and got those guys out, for the most part, but in the fifth inning, I left some balls over the plate. The curveballs I threw just popped out of my hand. Over the plate too much.”

Nola has now allowed 12 earned runs over three starts in the month of September. It is especially important that he returns to form, given that Ranger Suárez hasn’t looked like himself of late. The last thing the Phillies need is two starters who aren’t at their sharpest.

To Nola, the solution is obvious.

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“I’ve just got to eliminate the big inning,” Nola said. “Obviously the fifth inning was a big inning, and it spiraled too much. Prior to that inning, it was decent. But the fifth really got away from me. I’m just going to keep doing what I usually do, and try to finish as best as I can. Flush this one and focus on my next outing in Milwaukee and have a good work week.”

The one silver lining of Friday’s game was that manager Rob Thomson didn’t have to burn his bullpen. He used only three relievers — José Ruiz, Max Lazar, and Tyler Gilbert. He used a position player — Kody Clemens — to pitch the ninth inning.

Lazar tossed 2⅔ innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits with one strikeout. Gilbert entered in relief of Lazar in the eighth, with runners on first and second and two outs, and allowed a three-run home run to Harrison Bader to give the Mets a 10-0 lead.

Clemens allowed a solo home run to Pete Alonso in the ninth to increase the Mets’ lead to 11-0.

Some of the Phillies’ best at-bats of the night came in the bottom of the ninth. Kyle Schwarber drew a one-out walk, Harper drew a two-out walk, and Brandon Marsh drove them home with a three-run shot to right field.

Aramis Garcia struck out swinging and advanced to first base on a passed ball, and Weston Wilson walked to put runners on first and second with two outs, but Bryson Stott lined out to right field to end the game.

“Obviously this is a very important series for us,” said Realmuto. “Really, every series the rest of the year is. Every game seems a little bit more magnified right now. It’s just kind of the way we lost, going out there and getting our butts kicked, basically … that’s never fun. And in a game of this magnitude, it’s definitely frustrating.”

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The Phillies had the opportunity to drop their magic number from nine to seven on Friday, but for now, it’ll stay at nine. They have six more chances to widen the gap between Mets — two more in Philadelphia, and four in New York next week.

Thomson announced after the game that left-handed pitcher Kolby Allard will start on Saturday. There is no corresponding move to clear space on the active roster for Allard yet … Alec Bohm (left hand strain) and Edmundo Sosa (back spasms) will begin a rehab assignment in Lehigh Valley on Saturday. Bohm will play third base on Saturday, and Sosa will play second base. Bohm will DH on Sunday and Sosa will play second base or shortstop. It’s possible Bohm will be activated by the Phillies-Brewers series in Milwaukee.