Mets' Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo go deep in six-run fourth to beat Marlins
Brandon Nimmo of the Mets celebrates his fourth-inning three-run home run against the Marlins with teammate Francisco Lindor at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Brandon Nimmo would not declare himself cured.
Oh, he got rid of the stomach bug that cost him Thursday’s game, but he’s been dealing with a far more formidable foe since the All-Star break. His swings are off, he’s chasing too much, and, before the Mets’ 7-3 win over the Marlins on Friday night at Citi Field, he couldn’t so much as buy himself a hit — $162 million contract and all.
“We’ve been working hard,” Nimmo said after his 2-for-5 night, which included a three-run homer and two runs scored. He added: “I don’t know, maybe I got some of those demons out of me with me being sick [Thursday].”
Does that take some of the burden off?
“No,” he said. “Tomorrow, nobody cares.”
Maybe, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the start of something good.
Nimmo, who was mired in a horrific 3-for-35 (.086) and 0-for-17 slump going into the fourth inning, blasted reliever George Soriano’s hanging slider 390 feet to right as part of a six-run inning that helped the Mets earn their second win in seven games.
“Really good signs [Friday],” Carlos Mendoza said of Nimmo. “Even the at-bat before he went deep . . . I was like, that’s one of the better swings he’s taken in the past week or so.”
Jeff McNeil hit a go-ahead two-run homer earlier in the fourth and lefthander Sean Manaea had another strong performance. Manaea allowed three runs, five hits and one walk in seven innings, striking out four. It was the third time in the past four starts in which he’s gone at least seven innings, and he has a 2.25 ERA in that span.
The Mets, who scored only one run in a three-game series last weekend in Seattle, have scored 22 runs in their last three games.
The Marlins scored two in the top of the fourth to make it 2-1, but the Mets exploded in the bottom of the inning, teeing off on Roddery Munoz and Soriano.
Francisco Alvarez walked with one out and McNeil demolished Munoz’s 3-and-2 hanging slider, sending an arching drive 380 feet to right for his 12th homer and seventh since the All-Star break to give the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Harrison Bader walked and Francisco Lindor tripled down the rightfield line for a 4-2 lead. That ended Munoz’s night in favor of Soriano, who promptly hit Mark Vientos with a pitch to put two on. Nimmo then hammered Soriano’s first-pitch slider to right for his first homer since July 10 to make it 7-2.
“What I would hope is that we’re coming into a stretch where we’re swinging the bats really well,” Nimmo said. “When you have more than one guy doing it, you can do some damage.”
For that to work, though, the Mets need to be consistent on both sides of the ball. That has been a challenge during this recent swoon, one that president of baseball operations David Stearns addressed before the game.
Entering Friday, Mets pitchers had given up 3.90 walks per nine innings, second only to the White Sox. Their starters were last in walks per nine (3.73) and had thrown only 47.8% of pitches in the strike zone this season, the worst in the National League.
“I think we’ve played very inconsistent baseball,” Stearns said. “At times, trying to be a little too perfect, probably at times losing track of the situation in the game, and look, at times it’s that 50-50 call that’s not going your way.
“Regardless of the reasons, we can’t walk that many guys . . . We’ve demonstrated [we have talented players], and we know to get to the playoffs, we’re going to have to play better than we have recently.”
Manaea faced no such issues on Friday. He walked the leadoff batter and allowed no more free passes. Jose Butto allowed one walk in two innings of scoreless relief.
“Some of the guys that we have in the rotation and on the staff, I feel like at times we’re nibbling way too much, not attacking hitters, not trusting your stuff as a pitcher and not letting the defense play,” Mendoza said before the game. “We’ve got to get better.”
On Friday night, they did, and in almost every aspect. Now to build on it for . . . oh, let’s say the next month or maybe two.
“We’re all hands on deck on this,” Nimmo said. “We had better results [Friday] and that’s great . . . All I want to do is help us win and try to get into the playoffs so we can give our shot and see if we can be that hot team and make our run.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
