Brandon Nimmo's side injury doesn't seem to be too big an issue for Mets
Brandon Nimmo of the Mets celebrates after hitting a walk-off two-run home run against Atlanta at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Errol Anderson
Scratch Brandon Nimmo off the Mets’ list of things to worry about.
There are plenty of other concerns. Kodai Senga’s delayed rehab timetable. Brooks Raley’s time bomb of a left elbow. A sputtering, inconsistent lineup that is bottom third in too many statistical categories.
Before Sunday night’s series finale against Atlanta, we had Nimmo ranked pretty high on that docket of disaster, figuring that his intercostal issue had the potential to cause an extended absence the Mets could ill afford. As much as Nimmo tried to downplay its severity after leaving Saturday’s game, we’d seen this movie too many times. One minute, it’s nothing. The next, it’s check back in six weeks.
On this occasion, Nimmo was telling the truth. And as much as we discounted those words, he backed them up in the best way possible a few hours later, entering as a pinch runner in the seventh inning and swatting a walk-off two-run homer with one out in the ninth off lefty reliever A.J. Minter to deliver Sunday night’s 4-3 win over Atlanta before a crowd of 18,944 at Citi Field.
“I guess we can say he’s healthy, right?” a smiling Carlos Mendoza said.
Nimmo sailed through a rigorous pregame checklist to convince the manager he’d be available off the bench Sunday, then passed his first test in the eighth inning with a twisting, leaping grab at the warning track to rob Matt Olson of extra bases. Atlanta scored the go-ahead run that same inning on Marcell Ozuna’s RBI single, but all that did was set the stage for Nimmo’s later heroics.
In the ninth, after Jeff McNeil’s drag-bunt single and Tomas Nido’s sacrifice bunt — yes, back-to-back bunts — up came Nimmo, who had entered in the seventh to run for Stewart. Nimmo held back on two swings, similar to how he hurt himself Saturday night, then drilled a 3-and-2 cutter over the right-centerfield wall.
If his side was aching, it didn’t show. Nimmo rounded first base with his arms outstretched above his head, then was mobbed at the plate by his fellow Mets, receiving bear hugs from Francisco Lindor and others. Surviving that blue-and-orange mosh pit probably was the biggest physical test of the night.
“If we weren’t sure enough that it was OK, we are now,” the grinning Nimmo said at his locker. “Because Francisco just about sucked the air out of me when he hugged me. It was a beautiful thing.”
The Mets already knew how badly they needed Nimmo after losing the first two games of this series. They’re trying to revive an offense with a .679 OPS (20th in the majors) that was averaging 4.32 runs per game (ranked 16th). But the Mets still have other looming problems, and they’re not as easily solved as Nimmo’s miraculous recovery.
These are more existential threats, namely the fuzzy status of Senga’s rehab timetable and the lack of clarity involving Raley’s left elbow. While the Mets’ pitching staff has performed above expectations, it has done so with the hope that Senga would return in early June and Raley could be counted on as a reliable lefty weapon for the relief corps.
Now both of those things appear to be in serious jeopardy. Regardless of the Mets’ efforts this weekend to reshuffle Senga’s schedule for the sake of “mechanical adjustments,” there’s no disguising the fact that he’s going backward after facing hitters for only a second time a week ago.
Rather than staying with simulated games and progressing to a minor-league stint, Senga is back to square one — working on his delivery in the bullpen — which essentially is resetting the clock on him, too.
“His arm feels good,” Mendoza said before Sunday’s game. “He keeps saying he just doesn’t feel his mechanics are there. And he doesn’t want to continue to push it until he finds that rhythm.”
This is not standard procedure. Mendoza repeatedly insisted the delay is not due to any physical issues involving the shoulder strain Senga suffered in February, but this current limbo makes any return date a moving target.
Considering Senga’s kid-glove treatment, he’ll require at least five weeks of ramp-up — perhaps more — once he resumes pitching to hitters, and that will start inching closer to the All-Star break. June is quickly fading, if not out of the question entirely.
“It’s just more of his feedback,” Mendoza said. “What he’s feeling physically before we can take that next step.”
Raley’s situation seems more ominous, as he will visit an orthopedic surgeon in Texas on Tuesday, knowing that Tommy John surgery could be on the table for his damaged left elbow. Heading into Sunday night, the Mets’ bullpen had the lowest ERA in the National League (2.81) and was third overall, behind the Yankees (2.36) and Guardians (2.48). Raley was a big reason for that, having allowed two hits without an earned run in seven innings.
“It’s about being healthy,” he said Saturday. “If I’m not the same player on the field, I don’t really bring a whole lot to the team.”
Nimmo said he was OK. Mendoza was rewarded for his faith. The Mets should be so lucky with all of their problems.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
