After coming up for air from the All-Star break one day sooner than usual, the Phillies played through smoke-filled air that only worsened Thursday night.
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It didn’t bother Aaron Nola.
His teammates? Put it this way: Although the Phillies didn’t cite the campfire that hung over Citizens Bank Park as an excuse, the only thing more suffocating was the blanket flung over their bats by a handful of Mets pitchers in a 4-1 loss to open the season’s symbolic, if not mathematical second half.
“The weather was a bit different tonight, but it played no part in the final result,” Brandon Marsh said. “We just didn’t play as good as we should have, you know? Yeah, we’ve just got to be better.”
For the fifth consecutive season, the Phillies lost the first game after the All-Star break. This year, they managed four hits, with only Trea Turner’s two-out homer in the eighth inning keeping them from getting shut out for the eighth time.
Nola weaved in and out of trouble and allowed one run through six innings. But when interim manager Don Mattingly sent him back out for the seventh, at 90 pitches and against the bottom of the Mets’ order, he gave up back-to-back homers to Brett Baty and Francisco Alvarez.
It was the reverse of Nola’s last start on July 10, when Mattingly pulled the veteran righty after five innings and 84 pitches in a 2-2 game. Lefty reliever Tim Mayza gave up five runs in the sixth, and the Phillies lost.
“So, I take him out too early, leave him in too long,” Mattingly said, smiling, but also claiming that his quick hook with Nola last time didn’t factor into his decision-making. “Honestly, you really take each game for what it is. If he would have struggled in the sixth, then I would have been more proactive. But he threw the ball so good in the sixth … I felt good about him right there.”
Scenes in Philadelphia as the wildfire smoke rolls in during the Mets-Phillies game 😮 pic.twitter.com/ahil4fh2ST
— ESPN (@espn) July 16, 2026
It marked Nola’s third consecutive solid start, a positive development for the back end of the rotation on a day when the bullpen lost setup man Brad Keller for the season with a torn elbow ligament.
The Phillies and Mets had their All-Star break shortened by one day when ESPN chose them in the offseason for a standalone national broadcast. The rest of the sport returns from the break Friday, as usual.
And a few minutes before 4 p.m., the teams were told the start of the game would be moved up to 6:10 p.m. — one hour earlier than scheduled — because the air quality was expected to worsen after sunset.
The forecast proved correct. When the game started, the air quality index was at 157, according to airnow.gov, categorized as “unhealthy.” It rose to 166 by 8 p.m., with the Center City skyline no longer visible from South Philly. By 9 p.m., it was 192.
“It’s not ideal,” Nola said. “But it is what it is. Can’t really do anything about it. It’s one of those days where it was smoky. But I mean, it’s an outdoor stadium. You’ve got to get the game in and play through different conditions.”
Marsh said home-plate umpire Dan Iassogna, also the crew chief, repeatedly asked players throughout the game if they didn’t feel well or if the conditions were disruptive in the game.
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“Yeah, multiple times they were checking with us, asking us players — which was cool to see — if we were good to go, and obviously we were all ready to go,“ Marsh said. ”That was good by them. I wasn’t expecting that, but that was good.”
Mattingly said there was discussion earlier in the day about whether the game should be played. But based on forecasting, league and team officials were confident they could get it in, albeit earlier than expected.
But the Phillies and Mets altered their pregame routines in other ways. Neither team took batting practice on the field and spent “as little time as possible on the field,” Mattingly said.
“Just doing what you absolutely feel like you have to do after being gone for three days,” he added. “Not trying to absorb a bunch of energy when you’re getting heated.”
The Phillies were muted by Mets starter Christian Scott and four relievers. They had one hit through three innings and failed to capitalize on Bryce Harper’s one-out double in the fourth and a two-out double by Kyle Schwarber that missed being a homer by inches in the sixth.
Nola, meanwhile, continued to have success by leaning on his signature curveball and changeups to left-handed hitters. Fifty-nine of his 97 pitches were off-speed compared to only 19 four-seam fastballs and 15 sinkers.
In his last three starts, Nola has given up eight runs in 18 innings to leave his ERA at 5.68.
“Stuff feels pretty good,” he said. “Solo home runs is hurting me, but other than that, body and stuff is pretty good. Overall, I feel like I’m getting ahead in the counts and getting earlier outs and going a little bit deeper in the games.”
The Phillies could take a measure of consolation in that, maybe when the smoke clears.
Ryan Howard was a three-time All-Star and champion of the 2006 Home Run Derby in his legendary run with the Phillies. With the baseball world coming together in Philadelphia for the 96th All-Star Game, Howard sat down with Phillies Extra to discuss his All-Star memories, his expectations for a Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park, his outlook on the Phillies’ season, Kyle Schwarber’s chances of breaking his single-season franchise mark for homers, and more. Watch here.
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