PHILADELPHIA — Jose Quintana turned the Citizens Bank bandbox into his own sandbox on Friday night, delivering perhaps the defining performance of his two-year Mets career.
Fortunately, the left-hander survived thanks to some hard-hit balls that landed just in the right spot early on, but the quality of his hits weakened as the game went on.
He left the game after pitching seven scoreless innings in the Mets' 11-3 win over the Phillies.
The Mets' offense was dominated by a three-run home run — Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader each had one — but the team said the excitement was dampened when Francisco Lindor left the game in the seventh inning with a back injury.
The Mets clinched the No. 3 National League Wild Card spot ahead of the Braves on Opening Day, winning their 12th of 14 games.
Quintana pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four with no walks. The left-hander went at least seven innings without allowing an earned run for just the third time in his last four starts.
In the process, his ERA dropped from 4.57 to 3.91.
He retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced that night. The only Phillies batter to reach base during that time was Kyle Schwarber, who hit an infield single in the sixth inning.
Alvarez and Nimmo each hit three-run homers in the fifth inning as the Mets went from hitless to a 6-0 lead against Aaron Nola.
Nola allowed consecutive hits to leadoff hitters Jose Iglesias and Tyrone Taylor before Alvarez hit a high ball that hit the left field foul pole.
The homer was Alvarez's second in a row. Alvarez hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning on Wednesday at Toronto, and the Mets held on to their lead after Lindor homered to end Beauden Francis' no-hitter and score two more runs.
But the Mets were still in the early stages.
After Bader struck out, Lindor and Mark Vientos each singled before Nimmo smashed a home run into the right field stands for his 19th of the season.
It was the final pitch thrown by Nora, who was replaced with one out in the inning.
The Mets extended their lead in the sixth inning with an RBI double by Lindor, putting the Phillies behind 7-0. Bader's two-out double sparked the comeback.
Bader hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to seal the game and secure an outright victory.
Things were getting so bad that the Phillies brought in infielder Cody Clemens (Roger's son) to pitch in the ninth inning, and the Mets' final run came when Pete Alonso, in the great Mike Piazza tradition, homered off Clemens.
Alex Young was prevented from completing the shutout by giving up three home runs to Brandon Marsh in the ninth inning.
