Brandon Nimmo exits with injury as Mets lose series finale to Marlins
Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets follows through on his sixth inning home run against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024 in the Queens borough of New York City. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Marlins on Sunday afternoon featured layers of bad.
Brandon Nimmo injured his right shoulder and will get an MRI on Monday. The bullpen blew another late lead. The lineup failed to capitalize on several scoring chances, including a two-on, none-out situation in the bottom of the ninth. Jeff McNeil struck out after trying to bunt during that sequence. The Mets suffered from being on the wrong end of two standout plays in centerfield and two close plays at the plate.
Altogether, it represented another missed opportunity for the Mets (64-60), who went 3-3 at Citi Field during a week against noncontending teams.
“It’s not a wasted opportunity,” Francisco Lindor said. “We played the game not as good as the other teams.”
Nimmo got hurt in the top of the seventh while making a diving catch to prevent Miami (46-78) from scoring the go-ahead run. He landed hard on his right (throwing) shoulder, which bothered him on his first swing of his at-bat during the bottom of the inning.
He stayed in the game — and struck out — but left before the top of the eighth.
“It feels a little bit dead right now. I don’t really want to do much with it,” Nimmo said. “Any time you do something with the shoulder, you’re concerned. The fact that I had to come out of a game, I don’t love. Sometimes these things can tighten up and protect itself right away and get better later. So that’s what I’m hoping for. We’ll see what we’re dealing with tomorrow.
“Obviously, every game matters to us right now. It’s one I gotta go for and I gotta make the play. Sometimes things happen. We’re going to find out the extent of it, but I’d do it over again. It’s a play that has to be made in the moment.”
A potential injury comes at a bad time for Nimmo, who in the sixth inning hit his second home run in three days. He hadn’t gone deep at all during the previous five weeks.
Righthander Paul Blackburn allowed one run in six innings, handing a slim advantage to a well-rested relief corps. But Huascar Brazoban gave up the tying run in the seventh — on two soft singles and a wild pitch — and Reed Garrett walked three of four batters in the eighth.
Derek Hill’s single to left off Phil Maton drove in one of Garrett’s freebies and proved to be the game-winner. McNeil’s throw from left and Francisco Alvarez’s tag appeared to beat Jonah Bride, but the ball popped out of Alvarez’s mitt as he applied the tag.
“Free bases,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Garrett’s walks. “Any time you’re playing a tight game like that, they’re going to come back and bite you. That was the case again here today.”
Bookending the game were highlight-reel plays by the Marlins’ centerfielders, Hill in the first and Cristian Pache in the ninth.
The Mets had two on and one out in the opening inning against rookie righthander Valente Bellozo (5 1/3 innings, two runs), and Pete Alonso rocketed a fly ball to just about the wall. Hill made the running catch, crashed into the wall, fell to the ground and flipped the ball to rightfielder Jesus Sanchez.
Trying to score from second, Mark Vientos was thrown out at the plate on the 8-9-4-2 double play. He admitted to being surprised at getting the go-ahead from third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh, though he couldn’t see what was going on behind him in the outfield.
“It took them two perfect throws,” Mendoza said. “It’s early in the game. It’s a longer throw from the outfielder. A longer throw from the middle infielder. They executed. So I had no issues there.”
In the final frame, Pache covered significant ground to make a grab on Lindor’s drive to deep center. A homer would have won the game. The ball landing anywhere other than Pache’s glove would have at least tied the score. Instead, Pache made the over-the-shoulder catch for the penultimate out. Vientos struck out to end it moments later.
“I thought there was a chance of [the ball] at least hitting the wall,” Lindor said. “But I don’t know if the wind blew it or if I’m just not strong enough to hit it to dead center.”
Notes & quotes: Edwin Diaz warmed up all three days against the Marlins but never got into a game. That takes a toll as a partial workload for a reliever, but he said he’ll be good to go Monday against the Orioles . . . The Mets designated Ben Gamel for assignment to clear a roster spot for Starling Marte, who went 1-for-3 in his return from the injured list . . . Reliever Dedniel Nunez is scheduled to make a rehab appearance with Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday.
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.
