Nola pitches better than line indicates vs. Mets

NEW YORK -- The line score shows that Phillies rookie Aaron Nola suffered the worst start of his nine-start career Wednesday night at Citi Field.

He allowed nine hits, six runs and struck out four in just four innings in a 9-4 loss to the Mets.

It was the shortest start of his career. It was the most runs he had allowed.

"I felt good out there," Nola said. "Things kind of just unraveled. I missed a couple spots and they really made me pay for it."

But he also got little help from his defense. Left fielder Darnell Sweeney had trouble picking up a ball in the corner in the second inning which might have allowed runners to take an extra base. One batter later Domonic Brown could not catch a fly ball in right field. Brown's momentum carried him to the short wall, where he flipped head-over-heels as the ball rolled to the wall.

Video: PHI@NYM: Brown exits game after flipping over wall

A single turned into a two-run inside-the-park home run.

"Possibly a slide might have been a good idea because that way you don't worry about the wall," Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "That's the reason those guys do that. Or just back off it and play it in front of you. He made a good effort to try to catch it, then he got to the point where it was a little bit too late and he had no choice but to catch it on his shoestrings, and then he carried into the fence."

Brown left the game with concussion concerns.

Daniel Murphy then hit a ball under Ryan Howard's glove in the third inning. A potential second out turned into a one-run double. It proved costly when Michael Conforto hit a two-out, two-run home run to left.

Three batters later Andres Blanco could not backhand a ball down the line, helping Travis d'Arnaud to a triple.

"An inch here, an inch there and it could have been a different story," Mackanin said. "It wasn't one of [Nola's] better performances, but the defense really wasn't the greatest today. We didn't come up with great plays."