Brandon Nimmo had two rough nights executing the fundamentals, but reminded the Mets with one jolt in the 10th inning Wednesday that he’s still among the team’s most reliable performers.
A misplayed fly ball one night, a baserunning miscue the next, Nimmo launched a walk-off RBI double that gave the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Yankees before 44,121 at Citi Field, giving his team a split in the first round of this season’s Subway Series.
“The one [Tuesday] night for sure, I felt terrible,” Nimmo said, referring to a misplayed fly ball in the sixth inning that allowed the Yankees to score the go-ahead run in their 7-6 victory. “I let the team down and felt really bad about that.”
Nimmo’s shot to the right-field fence against Nick Ramirez on this night scored automatic runner Eduardo Escobar with the game-winner.
Brandon Nimmo get a hug from Francisco Lindor after hitting the game-winning double in the 10th inning of the Mets’ 4-3 Subway Series win over the Yankees. AP“I told the guys when I was coming up in that situation I was so glad, coming into that situation, I was going to have the opportunity to come through for the boys,” Nimmo said. “Baseball is funny like that.”
Stunned and maybe embarrassed after Isiah Kiner-Falefa stole home against them, the Mets reloaded and got to celebrate their third walk-off victory this season.
The Mets could have faded into the night trailing 3-1 in the seventh, but loaded the bases before scoring twice.
Even so, it was an inning of missed opportunity as Nimmo was thrown out retreating to second base after Starling Marte’s RBI single tied it 3-3.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa steals home during the seventh inning of the Yankees-Mets Subway Series game. Robert Sabo for NY PostNimmo thought Mark Vientos ahead of him would score on the two-out single and was surprised when Vientos hit the brakes. It left Nimmo scampering back to second, unsuccessfully.
Kiner-Falefa turned a meandering pitching battle into a jump-the-turnstiles moment that shocked the sellout crowd when he stole home in the seventh to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
Kiner-Falefa started halfway down the line from third and broke as Brooks Raley began his delivery.
Raley never had a chance, throwing a pitch that struck plate umpire Bill Miller.
Tommy Pham belts an RBI double during the fifth inning of the Mets-Yankees Subway Series game. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post“I saw [Kiner-Falefa] jumping around over there and didn’t know whether to step off or not and then he just kind of took off,” Raley said. “It became a situation where I really practiced stepping off and throwing home and it felt like the best idea was to go through my motion and make a quality throw and I didn’t.”
Jeff Brigham’s mistake was walking Josh Donaldson (who entered batting .143) to begin the seventh. Brigham plunked Anthony Rizzo and struck out DJ LeMahieu before the Yankees pushed across the go-ahead run on Kiner-Falefa’s fielder’s choice and throwing error by Jeff McNeil. Before stealing home, Kiner-Falefa swiped second and reached third on Francisco Alvarez’s throwing error.
As much success as the Yankees had on the bases, they went only 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Gerrit Cole, delivering a pitch in the third inning, allowed one run in six innings and received a no-decision. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post“The more we can put ourselves in that position, the better off we’ll be in the long run,” Rizzo said. “So we have just got to keep getting guys up there in that position and keep firing away.”
Justin Verlander had endurance with his fastball, clocking 96 mph with his 100th pitch of the night. Three pitches later, Jake Bauers delivered an RBI single that tied it 1-1, setting up a Verlander-Giancarlo Stanton showdown.
Verlander threw three straight balls before Stanton, given the green light, hit a 118-mph one-hopper to third base that Escobar gloved and turned into an inning-ending double play. Jose Trevino’s leadoff double started the tying rally.
Justin Verlander allowed one run in six innings in his no-decision outing. Charles Wenzelberg / New York PostVerlander continued his trend of alternating bad and good starts. In this one he allowed one earned run on three hits and struck out six over six innings, a rebound from his start in Atlanta last Thursday. In that game was knocked out after three innings (with five runs allowed) and watched as the Mets bullpen sputtered late in a 13-10 loss in 10 innings.
“At this point for our team every win matters,” Verlander said. “We have got to win some baseball games.”
Gerrit Cole teased the Mets in the sixth by allowing successive singles to Vientos and Nimmo to start the inning before retiring three straight batters to escape.
The right-hander was sharp for a third straight start, allowing one earned run on four hits with eight strikeouts over six innings, departing after 96 pitches.
