LOOK OUT BELOW
Mickey has team meeting after Mets fall below .500 Brutal bullpen wastes strong Wheeler effort
A dejected Paul Sewald wipes his facing during an outing in which he allowed four runs, ruining a solid Zack Wheeler effort in the Mets’ 7-4 loss to the Cubs Friday night at Citi Field. The defeat was so ugly it prompted Mickey Callaway (inset) to call a team meeting after the game.
The Mets still have something to smile about — and someone who never seems to stop smiling.
Even as the Mets fell below .500 for the first time all season, following Friday’s 7-4 loss to the Cubs at Citi Field, Brandon Nimmo’s strong stretch at the plate continued, as the 25-year-old homered for the second straight game, and recorded his fourth straight multi-hit game.
Nimmo went 2-for-4, with a walk, and two RBIs, giving him a careerbest five straight games driving in at least one run, while homering three times in that span.
After struggling to get playing time in a crowded outfield in April, Nimmo had just nine hits through May 3. Now, with regular at-bats, and Yoenis Cespedes out, Nimmo has 11 extra-base hits and nine RBIs in his past 11 games, while batting .390 with a .927 slugging percentage.
“He’s been great,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “He’s doing the job on both sides of the baseball. I feel like he’s playing good defense. He’s obviously swinging the bat well, and tak- ing his walk, things like that.
“He’s a young player that’s blossoming in front of us, and I think that he’s making a case for himself.”
Though Nimmo was caught stealing after opening the game with a leadoff walk, he still managed to spark the offense. After Amed Rosario opened the third with a walk, Nimmo came to the plate, and took two quick strikes against Tyler Chatwood, but Nimmo took the next fastball the opposite way, delivering a two-run homer to left to give the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Nimmo rounded the bases with a smile that kept growing wider, and when he reached the plate, the alwaysjubilant outfielder looked like a little kid who came home to a new puppy.
Nimmo later added a single in the fifth inning.
“I feel really good personally,” Nimmo said. “I’ve been getting some mistakes, and I’ve been able to do some damage with them.
“There’s definitely some momentum.”
Nimmo entered Friday with the fourth-highest on-base percentage in the majors, and is now hitting .294 this season. On May 22, Nimmo was batting .244.
He has now homered in five of the past 11 games, and has seven home runs in 121 at-bats this season. In 250 combined at-bats over the past two seasons, Nimmo had hit six home runs.
With more at-bats, Nimmo expects to make his case even stronger.
“The more playing time that I’ve gotten has helped me get in a good rhythm, and make good adjustments,” Nimmo said. “It might be the biggest thing. I haven’t done anything drastically different. That’s the biggest thing right there.”