Brandon Nimmo's homer caps nine-run fourth inning as Mets blow out Nationals again
Mets leftfielder Brandon Nimmo is greeted in the dugout against the Washington Nationals during the fourth inning of an MLB game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
From stomach bugs to a shoulder issue that could’ve been so much worse to that fainting episode to an unusual amount of lineup shuffling, Brandon Nimmo is willing to be blunt about it: He has had a weird year, and not in a good way.
But after the Mets pummeled the Nationals, 10-0, Wednesday night — his three-run home run serving as the climax to a nine-run fourth inning — he expressed his hope that soon none of it would matter. None of it would be remembered as the most important part of his or the team’s 2024. There are grander stakes than his mediocre statistical season.
He’s talking about a legacy.
“The biggest thing I’m trying to look at is we’re in playoff contention,” Nimmo said. “If things were to start coming together here at this point, it would all be worth it, because for me the biggest thing is to play playoff baseball and win games.
“If we were able to do that, whatever happened during the regular season, it really wouldn’t matter. It only matters what you do in the playoffs and trying to win games and trying to bring a World Series back to the Mets.”
Nimmo cited Daniel Murphy, the solid Met who had an all-time October in 2015. He homered in six consecutive postseason games, including all four in the NLCS, winning series MVP honors along the way.
A mere prospect then, months away from his major-league debut, Nimmo knows the lore well.
“Murph had a great career, but when you think of Murph, you think of the playoffs and the home runs that he hit, bringing the Mets to the 2015 World Series,” Nimmo said. “That’s the time to shine. That’s the time to have fun. It’s just what we all play for.”
The Mets (84-68) are getting closer to exactly that. With 10 games left in the regular season, they remained two games ahead of Atlanta for the final National League wild-card spot. They also were tied with Arizona and just 2 1/2 games behind the Padres for the top wild card, which comes with home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
The blowout in the finale marked the Mets’ 11th win in 13 tries against the Nationals (68-84), a measure of dominance against a poor intra-division team that on its own accounts for their increasingly solid place in the standings.
The game all but ended in the fourth, when they rocked lefthander DJ Herz (3 1/3 innings, seven runs) and righthander Jacob Barnes (1 2/3 innings, two runs).
Mark Vientos (two-run single), Luisangel Acuna (RBI single) and Starling Marte (two-run single) had big hits. But the biggest belonged to Nimmo, which was no surprise to Carlos Mendoza, who saw positive signs earlier in the week.
“The way that barrel was coming through the hitter zone, it was a different look, a different feeling,” the manager said. “There was conviction. There was authority. He was ready to go for pitches. Today, we saw that. He was ready to go for the fastball. And he dictated that at-bat.”
That lone inning was plenty of support for lefthander Jose Quintana, who tossed seven innings to run his scoreless streak to 22 2/3 frames. Over his past five starts, he has an 0.28 ERA.
What is true for Nimmo is true for Quintana and the rest of the Mets.
“It would be really nice to catch fire,” he said, “right as we’re heading to the playoffs.”
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.
