Brandon Nimmo is the x-factor of the New York Mets. His career has been renowned for its streakiness, and his slumps often drive Mets fans to madness. When he is on, though, he takes his team to heights that are indescribable. He illustrated this in supreme fashion in New York’s 12-6 win in the second game of the Subway Series.
The Mets stood at 45-24 in mid-June, the best record in Major League Baseball. Their starting pitching, once considered New York’s Achilles Heel, led the way to the game’s best earned run average. All seemed great on June 13th as the Mets closed in on a series sweep over the Washington Nationals.
On that same day, Kodai Senga strained his hamstring, and one domino tipped to knock over several more. Tylor Megill strained his right elbow, leading to a lengthy Injured List stint. Griffin Canning blew out his Achilles, ending his season. The rotation, which set a mark with four pitchers all with sub-3.00 ERAs, was now under siege.
A pitching staff struggling through a rash of injuries needs a healthy dose of run support. Instead, New York’s bats went dark, especially with runners in scoring position. Their power, which helped them navigate through poor clutch hitting, disappeared. Nimmo provided a perfect illustration.
The Mets suffered through a 3-14 skid, which included sweeps at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Atlanta Braves, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nimmo didn’t hit a home run in any of New York’s 14 defeats. In those contests, he accounted for only three runs batted in.
The Mets have had dreadful production all season from the sixth through ninth spots in the batting order. It is paramount that the upper half of the lineup carries a heavy weight; Nimmo is the pivot point for New York’s success. If he produces, pitchers have difficulty working around Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Peter Alonso. If he struggles, they don’t have to give any of the triple threats anything to hit.
Nimmo’s terrible two-week production and the Mets’ pathetic play were not a coincidence. How he does it is directly correlated to the team’s success. It is no surprise, therefore, that New York has looked like a completely different team since Wednesday night.
The Mets lost the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader to the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2, their fourth straight defeat. They entered the Brewers series off their lowest point of the season, getting embarrassed by the lowly Pirates in a three-game sweep. Pittsburgh outscored New York 30-4; the Mets couldn’t shut down one of the worst-hitting teams, and their offense showed little life.
Milwaukee came to the Big Apple on fire, going 8-2 in their last 10. How many fans would have predicted that New York would have any outcome besides getting swept? There wasn’t much to inspire confidence.
Nimmo changed everything. The Mets were desperate for a victory, something to stop the bleeding. In the doubleheader nightcap, he gave it to them. In the second inning, New York’s first two hitters got out, then the next three got on base. Nimmo stepped up in a spot where Mets hitters have struggled in, bases loaded and two outs.
Nimmo clubbed a grand slam over right field, giving New York a 4-0 lead and changing the momentum. A team that could not score seemingly for weeks immediately responded with another homer from Lindor, and the Mets never looked back. They won the game, 7-3.
New York won the Milwaukee series with a 3-2 victory in the finale and then began the Subway Series Friday evening with a dramatic 6-5 win. Nimmo hit another homer in the Thursday closer against the Brewers and contributed a hit and scored a run in Friday’s Subway Series opener. He had plenty more to offer in Saturday’s matinee.
The Mets faced one of the New York Yankees’ best pitchers, Carlos Rodon. Runs figured to be at a premium, but Nimmo had different ideas. He came to the plate in the bottom of the first, once again with the bases loaded.
Nimmo smashed a power jack over right center, hitting his third grand slam of the season. What figured to be a difficult game flipped completely in the Mets’ favor. He tied a franchise record with his third grand slam of the season, equaling the likes of Carlos Beltran and Robin Ventura.
Nimmo, over the last four games, has gone 6 for 17 with three home runs, two grand slams, nine runs batted in, and four runs scored. He has even stolen two bases to boot. The Mets have scored 28 runs in those contests, and they perform exceptionally when he does well.
Nimmo got the Saturday afternoon party started, and the rest of the lineup joined in. Alonso clobbered two HRs, moving him seven away from taking over the franchise record owned by team legend Darryl Strawberry. Lindor collected two hits, walked twice, and scored four runs. Starling Marte went 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI. By game’s end, the Mets scored 12 runs, one of their finest outputs of the season.
Nimmo has stepped up at a critical time for the Mets, who are scrambling to find pitchers to start games. They started Justin Hagenman on Friday and announced that Chris Devenski will open the game on Sunday, two pitchers who figured to have no impact at season’s start.
Sean Manaea and Senga may be coming back before the All-Star break, but they figure to need time to ramp up. General Manager David Stearns is feeling the pressure to make moves to bring in starting pitching, but that will likely take weeks, closer to the MLB Trade Deadline.
It is imperative that the hitting performs; Nimmo will help drive that. If he excels, the Mets’ offense almost always follows along with him. Consistency has always eluded him. The next step forward in his career is to become steady; the next few weeks will provide an opportunity.
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