Nola, bullpen deliver as Phillies stretch NL East lead over Mets

Uncertainty swirled around the Phillies before Monday night’s series opener against the Mets, with Trea Turner’s injury — albeit less severe than expected — and Alec Bohm’s return to the IL throwing things, certainly Monday night’s lineup, into disarray.

It arguably wasn’t the best time for Aaron Nola, who hasn’t exactly epitomized stability this season, to kick off a four-game set in which the Phillies could effectively secure the NL East — a statement that was uttered two weeks ago, with subpar returns.

But in front of a lineup with Bryce Harper leading off and Max Kepler hitting cleanup, Nola stabilized on Monday, at least for a night. His best start since early May was a six-run, shutout performance against the Mets, with three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts on his ledger.

He’ll need more outings like that to crack the top three in the Phillies’ postseason rotation. Maybe even that wouldn’t be enough. But after allowing 18 runs in 19 1/3 innings his last four outings, Monday was a sign of life.

If Turner is going to miss any time in October, or be diminished when he returns, the formula, already clear, will be pronounced: The Phillies need to out-pitch their problems. Nola started it on Monday; David Robertson, Matt Strahm and Jhoan Duran picked up where he left off. Robertson struck out two in a perfect seventh. Strahm walked one in an otherwise clean eighth.

And Duran, who allowed four consecutive hits for a walk-off at Citi Field the last time he faced these Mets, learned a different fate at Citizens Bank Park after his light show welcomed him in with a one-run lead. But he did so narrowly.

A leadoff single and one-out double put two ducks on the pond, but Duran struck out Jeff McNeil on a 101.9-mph fastball and 89.8-mph knuckle curve to end it.

The Phillies did their only scoring off Mets top-three prospect Nolan McLean in the second inning, and their cleanup hitter started it. Kepler singled before Harrison Bader got him to third, and Nick Castellanos poked an RBI knock down the first-base line.

If the Phillies didn’t put the nail in the NL East coffin on Monday, they moved one step closer. One more win across the next three would keep them up seven with 15 to play. Stranger things have happened, but not many.

With the Dodgers playing late on Monday, the Phillies are temporarily 4 1/2 games up for the second bye in the NL playoff field.