Mets OF Brandon Nimmo's big day leads club to 4-game sweep of Cardinals
New York Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo (9) reacts after hitting an RBI single against the St. Louis Cardinals during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 20, 2025 in New York. Credit: Noah K. Murray
For the collective, the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Cardinals on Sunday was a resounding, well-rounded success to complete a four-game series sweep, from Francisco Lindor’s leadoff home run to begin his three-hit day to Clay Holmes’ six innings of one-run ball to Juan Soto’s three RBIs, including a two-run double that all but ended the game in the eighth.
“Today was fun, for sure,” Lindor said.
Manager Carlos Mendoza said: “A good team win.”
For Brandon Nimmo in particular, though, the game stood out amid his early-season doldrums.
In the top of the sixth, he made a leaping catch at the leftfield wall, robbing the Cardinals’ Jordan Walker of a home run and ending Holmes’ best outing yet on a high note.
In the bottom of the seventh, with the Mets in a freshly tied 3-3 game, Nimmo sent a ground ball hard up the middle for the go-ahead hit against former Mets reliever Phil Maton.
“They’re both really fun. It’s hard to compare them,” Nimmo said of his twin moments. “It’s a cool feeling, definitely, to rob the home run. Those don’t come around quite as often.
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MARCH/APRIL
W/L: 13-9
ERA: 2.41
K/9: 11.6
WHIP: 1.071
MAY
W/L: 10-7
ERA: 2.81
K/9: 10.1
WHIP: 1.088
“But I love being able to help our team out and put us on top and give us a chance to sweep the series and put the pressure on [the Cardinals]. They both feel great. But you’re contributing to helping the team win in both situations. I love them both.”
Holmes was nearing his pitch limit as he faced Walker, a hulking 6-6, 250-pound rightfielder who hasn’t made good on his top-prospect status but who nonetheless possesses huge power. His 91st pitch went soaring to left.
Nimmo, however, thought he had a chance. The wind was blowing in a bit. It also was a fairly cool April day, the sort of conditions in which — as Nimmo has learned firsthand — balls don’t fly the way they do at other times of the year. So as he backtracked toward the wall, he took a peek and realized he had enough room before the wall.
“I thought maybe I had a shot,” he said. “I just needed to time it up right and not jump into the wall.”
And he did, sending Holmes off the mound with a fist pump and glove smack. It was a particularly significant play given the Mets’ bare-bones bullpen — no Edwin Diaz, no A.J. Minter, probably no Reed Garrett because of their recent usage — that one frame later lost the lead.
Had Nimmo not come down with the ball, the inning, Holmes’ start and the game may well have looked much different.
“I knew I was getting close to my pitch count and I wanted to finish that sixth inning, just to help the pen out,” said Holmes, who worked around four hits and two walks. “That’s a situation where, hey, I’m going to throw these pitches and trust my defense and let them work. To have them behind you, to have the ability to make that play, is massive. The outing ends on a different note because of that. Special play.”
Danny Young and Jose Butto combined to allow two runs in the top of the seventh. Young allowed two of four batters to reach base and Butto gave up a tying double by Thomas Saggese.
That set up Nimmo’s clutch hit in the next half-inning. With two on and two out, he came through against Maton, waiting on and getting a curveball after taking a pair of cutters right down the middle.
“He was patient, familiar with Phil,” Mendoza said. “He was just waiting for that breaking ball until he finally got it.”
Nimmo said: “I know he’s a great pitcher, very intellectual, makes very calculated decisions. He has a reason for everything. You’re playing the cat-and-mouse game and trying to be ready. Fortunately from my side, it just takes one.”
Nimmo has struggled more than any other Mets lineup full-timer, batting .202 with a .634 OPS after Sunday.
“It’s not the first or the last time that I’ll be struggling, but you’re just trying to find ways that you can help in any way,” he said. “You never give up. You always go up there with confidence. You know this next at-bat, things can change for you.”
Notes & quotes: Francisco Alvarez (left hand surgery) and Jeff McNeil (strained right oblique) will report to Citi Field for a check-in Monday but likely will continue with their rehab assignments this week, Mendoza said . . . Mark Vientos, who exited Saturday’s game because of groin discomfort that he attributed to dehydration, was feeling better on Sunday and did not go for an MRI. He said he hopes to be available Monday . . . Lindor was enthused about his dribbler single in the seventh inning because he had been 0-for-13 as a righthanded batter. “They’ve been throwing a no-hitter against me on the right side,” he said. “Now I don’t have a zero on that side. They say hits come in bunches, and home runs. So we’ll see what happens. At least there’s one on the board now.”
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.
