In it to grin it! Nimmo slugs walk-off pinch-hit HR

Outfielder delivers 3-run blast in 10th after deGrom dominates over 8 innings

July 11th, 2018

NEW YORK -- was smiling every step of the way as he sprinted around the basepaths on a walk-off pinch-hit three-run home run in Wednesday's 3-0 win over the Phillies. Raising his arms, he was beaming as he looked up and addressed the cheering fans at Citi Field in his postgame interview, thanking them for staying and supporting the team. That's just the kind of guy Nimmo is.
Nimmo's 13th homer sealed the Mets' sixth walk-off win of the season and third of this homestand. The last one came on Monday, when stepped up in a pinch-hit situation in the 10th inning to hit a solo homer to left field.
"Now I know how Flo feels all the time," Nimmo said. "I was waiting for him to pass on some words of encouragement or wisdom on how he does it all the time, but I figured I watched him so many times before maybe I could try and be like him."

Flourishing shortstop started the 10th-inning rally with a two-out double before walked to bring up Nimmo, who belted the first pitch from 433 feet to right-center field, according to Statcast™. The drive marked the first walk-off homer and first career walk-off RBI for Nimmo.
"I was just extremely elated," Nimmo said. "It's no secret I've been struggling the past couple of weeks, so to be able to be putting in all of this hard work that we're putting in and to be able to come in off the bench and be able to help this team win, it was a really good feeling."
Nimmo spent much of his time with the Mets last year as a pinch-hitter, so the high-pressure situation was not out of the ordinary for him. He channeled his past experiences and felt that the hit was "even more special" because he knows how hard it is to come off the bench.

Mets manager Mickey Callaway joked after the game about the kind of energy that Nimmo brings to the team. When asked about Nimmo's visible excitement rounding the bases, Callaway said, "Well, that's him after a walk."
The lovable Nimmo gave Mets ace something to smile about as well after another spectacular outing from New York's lone All-Star. deGrom spun eight brilliant innings, lowering his ERA to 1.68 to tie all-time Mets great Dwight Gooden for the best first-half ERA in franchise history. Gooden set the record in 1985, the year he won the National League Cy Young Award.

SOUND SMART
This season is the third in team history in which the Mets have had two walk-off pinch-hit home runs; this year's coming in a matter of two days. It also happened in 1962 and '95.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
In the top of the 10th inning with two outs and Phillies catcher at first, Reyes fielded a slow ground ball up the third-base line. Reyes faked the throw to first and turned to find Knapp stranded after rounding second base, getting him in a rundown and eventually diving to get the tag, ending the inning.

HE SAID IT
"A wise man, , once told me it doesn't count unless it's in the big leagues, so we'll just say that this is the first one, because this is the first one in the big leagues and it was pretty special." -- Nimmo, on his history of walk-off RBIs

UP NEXT
will take on the Nationals at Citi Field Thursday night at 7:10 p.m. ET. In his last outing, Matz threw 6 1/3 innings and only allowed one earned run on five hits with five strikeouts. The start was his eighth this season -- and second straight -- in which he allowing one or zero earned runs. Matz is 1-2 with a 2.37 ERA in six career starts against the Nationals, who will have right-handed ace Max Scherzer on the mound.