The Mets have had the Phillies’ number for nearly a year.
Since last October’s NLDS, Philadelphia had beaten New York just three times heading into Monday’s series opener at Citizens Bank Park.
With Trea Turner and Alec Bohm sidelined and the lineup in flux, the Phils leaned on their veterans in a pitchers’ duel to notch a 1-0 victory over the Metropolitans.
Aaron Nola delivered his biggest start of 2025 — in what has otherwise been a disappointing season for the longest-tenured Phillie.
Nola’s gutsy outing featured six scoreless innings, seven strikeouts and a roaring ovation from over 40,000. It was his first scoreless start since May 3, before an ankle sprain sent him to the IL until mid-August.
“He just threw so well tonight,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He kept the ball down. He was attacking the zone a lot more. A lot of changeups, a lot more changeups than he’s been throwing … the curveball was sharp, I thought he was really good.”
Nola credited his ability to command the fastball and changeup as key. “I just needed to win the count, stay ahead, attack the zone,” he said. “I kind of controlled the zone a lot better than that last one.”
He mixed all four of his primary pitches — four-seamer, sinker, curveball and changeup — each at least 20% of the time across his 94 pitches. Notably, he scrapped the cutter — except for once, when he fanned Juan Soto for a strikeout in the sixth.
“Sometimes you’ve got to think out of the box a little bit,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “I knew [Soto] hadn’t seen one yet, so he wasn’t going to be looking for it. I just trusted Aaron to execute it and he did.”
That pitch turned out to be the first out of Nola’s final inning. “It was good to get those hitters out, especially two really good ones,” Nola said of Soto and Pete Alonso. “Those guys are tough.”
Opposing him was rookie phenom Nolan McLean, who has stormed onto the scene with historic numbers.
The right-hander entered 4-0 with a 1.36 ERA and joined Fernando Valenzuela (1981) as the only pitchers since ERA became official in 1913 to win their first four starts with a sub-1.50 ERA and 25-plus strikeouts.
One of those outings came Aug. 27, when McLean blanked the Phillies across eight innings.
This time, the Phils finally cracked him in the second. Max Kepler started with an opposite-field single. Harrison Bader lined a ball into left-center — his first of three hits tonight…