Mets complete a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies as Brandon Nimmo heads to IL
Francisco Lindor and DJ Stewart of the Mets celebrate after defeating the Phillies in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Brandon Nimmo was placed on the injured list on Saturday with a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder. The good news for the Mets: An MRI showed no rotator cuff damage.
“It’s nothing serious, but it’s something that takes 10 to 14 days to resolve,” Nimmo said. “And we obviously don’t have that time. So that’s the end for me for the season. We’ll start looking toward next year.”
Nimmo left Thursday’s game against Miami in the fifth inning after he was injured while trying to make a diving catch in centerfield. He finished the season — his first after signing an eight-year, $162 million contract to remain with the Mets — with a .274 average, a career-high 24 home runs and an .829 OPS in 152 games.
The Mets also lost Jeff McNeil this past week with a partial tear of the UCL in his left elbow. Manager Buck Showalter said McNeil received a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Friday. Both players are expected to be ready for spring training.
In the last week of the season, the Mets have lost Nimmo and McNeil to injury and have had to play two doubleheaders and endure rainouts and rain delays. Nimmo called it all “the cherry on top for how this year has been.”
Catcher Michael Perez was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.
Alvarez slams Phillies
Francisco Alvarez hit his first career grand slam as part of a two-homer, six-RBI game as the Mets completed a doubleheader sweep of the Phillies on Saturday night at Citi Field.
The Mets won the opener, 4-3, and took an 11-4 victory in the nightcap against the playoff-bound Phillies.
Alvarez hit a two-run shot in the first inning and a grand slam off the facing of the second deck in left in the third, both off rookie lefthander Michael Plassmeyer, who was making his first big-league start.
Alvarez has 25 home runs in his rookie season. “I think I can do better than that,” the 21-year-old said, which is a scary thought for opposing pitchers.
Game 2 featured six players getting hit by pitches (three on each side) after Pete Alonso was hit on the left ear flap in Game 1 by an 84.6-mph cutter from former teammate Taijuan Walker in the second inning. The pitch broke the ear flap off the helmet. Alonso remained in the game and exchanged a hand slap with Walker after the inning.
In Game 2, Alonso was hit by a pitch from Plassmeyer in the third inning. That tied Alonso’s career high of 21 plunkings from his rookie season of 2017. It was the 106th time a Met has been hit by a pitch this season, which is the most in the National League and was second in baseball behind Seattle’s 110 going into Saturday.
After Alonso, Francisco Lindor was hit by Plassmeyer’s next pitch for No. 107. Three batters later, Alvarez hit his slam. DJ Stewart, the next batter, was hit by a pitch for No. 108.
Mets starter Jose Quintana had hit Nick Castellanos with a pitch in the first. Phil Bickford hit Edmundo Sosa with a pitch in the fifth. Reed Garrett hit Trea Turner with a pitch in the seventh. Turner left the game with a left elbow contusion.
The Mets have hit 85 batters. They were second in the NL and seventh in baseball going into Saturday.
Garrett was the Game 2 winner with three scoreless innings of relief for his first big-league victory. Lindor hit his 31st home run, a two-run shot, in the fourth.
In the opener, Tylor Megill pitched shutout ball into the eighth. Megill (9-8, 4.70 ERA) left with two runners on. Brooks Raley allowed one of them to score, so Megill was charged with one run in 7 1⁄3 innings.
Megill finished a strong end-of-season run (eight straight starts of three or fewer earned runs allowed).
Megill said he threw three splitters for the first time in his career. He said he patterned the pitch after Kodai Senga’s ghost fork and called his splitter “the American spork.”
Adam Ottavino picked up his 12th save despite allowing two runs in the ninth.
Murphy returns again
Daniel Murphy threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the opener. Murphy, a Met from 2008-15, retired after the 2020 season and was at Mets Old-Timers’ Day last season.
He attempted a comeback this summer and played in 37 games with the Long Island Ducks, hitting .331. Murphy later signed with the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A affiliate in Salt Lake City in one last attempt to return to the majors.
Murphy, 38, hit .295 in Triple-A before calling it quits again in mid-August.
He called it his “fun summer adventure.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
