Mets crush Phillies, but Francisco Lindor exits early with sore back

PHILADELPHIA — Somehow, in an 11-3 win over the Phillies on Friday night, a laugher amid a tense playoff race, the Mets found a degree of drama.

Shortstop and NL MVP candidate Francisco Lindor exited in the seventh inning because of lower-back soreness, but he and manager Carlos Mendoza indicated afterward that he seems to be pretty much fine.

Lindor likely would have stayed in the game had it been closer, they said separately. Mendoza described Lindor as day-to-day and Lindor said he hopes to play Saturday.

Leaving was an easy call.

“It was definitely tight enough for me to tell Mendy, all right, let me just back off from it for a little bit,” Lindor said. “It’s tight. But good enough.”

Mendoza said: “I put pressure on him and said, ‘Hey, man, we gotta take care of this here’ .  .  . I’m pretty sure he’s going to tell me to put him in the lineup tonight [for Saturday].”

That put a slight damper on what otherwise was a resounding win in the opener of the biggest series yet for the Mets (81-66). They stayed one game ahead of Atlanta for the last National League postseason spot.

Francisco Alvarez and Brandon Nimmo clubbed three-run home runs in the game-turning fifth inning and Harrison Bader added a three-run blast in the eighth. Pete Alonso hit his 32nd homer, a 393-foot solo shot on a 60.6-mph pitch from infielder Kody Clemens in the eighth. Jose Quintana threw seven shutout innings.

Lindor (2-for-4) became a source of concern after his RBI double in the top of the sixth. He thought he could cruise into the base safely, but centerfielder Johan Rojas’ throw arrived quickly. It was too late for him to slide; instead, he awkwardly stepped on and ran through the bag, jamming his back in the process.

He played defense in the bottom of the sixth before departing. “I’m in a spot right now where I took care of it,” he said.

Nimmo said: “It takes a lot to get Francisco out of a game, so we’re definitely concerned for him. We know that he is obviously a huge part of this team and we wouldn’t be here without him. We definitely want him in the lineup, but we want him to take care of himself and be ready for us as we go down the stretch.”

The Mets were held hitless by Phillies righthander Aaron Nola (4 1⁄3 innings, six runs) until the fifth.

Alvarez’s second homer in two games matched his total from the previous 55 games dating to late June. Mendoza repeatedly has remarked recently that he was starting to see glimpses of Alvarez, 22, a catcher with about as much raw power as anyone on the team, emerging from a deep slump.

“He’s in a position to make some really good swing decisions and do damage. He’s getting to a spot mechanically where he’s ready to fire,” Mendoza said. “The way he’s staying on the fastball, the way he’s staying on breaking balls. And again, it starts with him being on time. That’s what we’ve seen for the past five, six games here.”

Alvarez said: “I’m feeling way better than a couple weeks ago.”

The Phillies (88-59) hit Quintana hard in the early innings but had little to show for it. Then he settled in, allowing just three hits (only one of which left the infield) and no walks and striking out four.

In his past four starts, Quintana has allowed one earned run in 25 innings (0.36 ERA).

“Especially when you face a lineup like that, you need to be ahead [in the count],” he said. “I’m really happy with how my stuff has been working the last couple starts.”

All that made for a productive night, the start of seven games in 10 days against the NL East leaders. The Mets have won 12 of their past 14 overall.

“There’s a lot of different ways that we continue to get the job done,” Mendoza said. “We’re playing really good baseball right now and we need to continue to do that.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.