ATLANTA — Brandon Nimmo is running. everytime. It's famous. His hustling has become an obvious habit, and he's about the only player in baseball to charge to first base after a walk.
That made the top of the eighth inning of Monday's season opener even more surprising. The swing was powerful, but the exclamation was also loud.
One of the club's leaders and one of the most fondly remembered players in the game, Nimmo helped lead the Mets to the postseason, finding himself assisted in the ninth inning and scoring two runs that sent the dugout into a frenzy. led to. In the first game of a doubleheader to end the regular season, he hit the playoff-clinching home run in an 8-7 win against the Braves at Trust Park.
The most memorable one was Francisco Lindor's game-winning two-run home run. Edwin Diaz's eighth-inning blowout, his interinning pleas to manager Carlos Mendoza, and his survival in the ninth will be remembered. However, without Nimmo's final blow in the top of the 8th inning, the Mets would not have been able to escape and get their ticket.
After seven silent innings against Spencer Schwellenbach, the Mets finally woke up. Tyrone Taylor's double removed the Braves' starting pitcher from the game and began a five-hit streak. Francisco Alvarez's double gave the Mets the lead. Lindor's single gave them an extra point. Jose Iglesias' hit tied the game at 3-3, and Mark Vientos' sacrifice fly gave the Mets their first lead of the game.
Nemo then provided the cushion he needed.
The fourth pitch thrown by Raisel Iglesias was the midfield fastball that Nimmo was waiting for. He turned it on and watched it go. He dropped the bat. He took nine steps to first base, staring at the trajectory of the 405-foot bomb that landed in the chophouse in the right-field seats.
The 6-3 lead the Mets held wouldn't last long, but the image in the dugout would. Lindor had a bad back and jumped over the dugout railing onto the field to lead the cheers.
“I never thought that would happen,” Lindor said after the Game 1 win. “Somehow, somehow, I just jumped. Jumping over fences definitely makes my back feel a lot better.”
