Aaron Nola pitched six scoreless innings and Jhoan Duran escaped a tense situation in the ninth as the Philadelphia Phillies nipped the visiting New York Mets 1-0 on Monday.
Nola (4-8) gave up just three hits and two walks while striking out seven in his most effective start since coming back from a three-month stint on the injured list.
Duran struck out Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez with runners on second and third in the ninth to close out Philadelphia’s eighth victory in 11 games. Duran logged his 28th save of the season, his 12th since joining the Phillies at the trade deadline.
After winning each of his previous first starts to begin his major league career, Nolan McLean (4-1) took a tough-luck loss. The right-hander allowed one run and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings He struck out five and walked three.
Pete Alonso had two hits for the second-place Mets (76-68), who now trail the first-place Phillies (84-60) by eight games in the National League East.
Nola struck out two batters in the first inning and worked around a pair of hits in the second inning, fanning Cedric Mullins to get through the jam.
Philadelphia scored in the bottom of the second thanks to three consecutive singles. Max Kepler opened the inning with a base hit and then Harrison Bader singled, although he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.
Kepler moved to third on the play and then scored on a base hit by Nick Castellanos.
Nola survived a two-out double by Alonso in the third and then set down New York in order in the fourth. He gave up a leadoff walk to Brett Baty in the fifth but then picked him off to end the frame.
Meanwhile, McLean worked around a pair of hits in the fourth inning. He got some help when Alvarez threw out Bader trying to steal second.
McLean issued two walks in the fifth but retired the final two Phillies to keep the score 1-0.
Nola set down the side 1-2-3 in the sixth and David Robertson followed suit in the seventh. Matt Strahm issued a two-out walk in the eighth before second baseman Bryson Stott made a diving stop on a grounder by Juan Soto to end the inning.
The contest was the opener of a four-game series that marks the rivals’ last meetings of the season.
