Brandon Nimmo wanted to play Sunday against the Atlanta Braves and informed manager Carlos Mendoza that he would be ready after sitting out part of Saturday’s loss while experiencing some intercostal tightness.
The manager told him it was best not to risk it. It’s still early May, so giving his star outfielder a day off to rest and prevent a minor injury from becoming a major one made sense.
“I told Mendy last night that I wanted to assess before [the game] and he was like, ‘No,'” Nimmo said Sunday at Citi Field before the Mets walked off against the Braves with a 4-3 win. Nimmo drove a full-count cutter from left-hander A.J. Minter into right-center field for a two-run, walk-off home run.
Clearly, the manager changed his mind.
“I guess we can say he’s healthy,” Mendoza said after the game.
Nimmo felt something tweak Saturday on a checked swing. He stayed in the game but was later removed for precautionary reasons. Sunday, he did some core testing and was planning on swinging a bat at some point in the day as well. Admittedly, Nimmo felt some soreness on his right side Sunday morning, but nothing he felt could be concerning.
“It’s a little sore, so it’s as if you worked out on it or something like that, maybe a little too much,” Nimmo said. “But other than that, it’s pretty good.”
Nimmo did not undergo any imaging. He made a twisting catch at the wall to rob Matt Olson of extra bases in the eighth and had no problems with any muscles in his side.
“From what I understand of the intercostal, the main responsibility of it is basically breath and then there’s a little bit of rotation into it,” Nimmo said. “So I think that as far as core stability goes for running, I didn’t feel it at all running out to the outfield yesterday. The main concern was that I was going to have to check my swing again at some point yesterday.”
The Mets used DJ Stewart at the leadoff spot and in left field Sunday against Atlanta. Stewart has primarily been a DH this season but has recently been getting more playing time in the outfield and at first base.
Stewart usually hits lower in the order, but with a low chase rate and an ability to get on base, Mendoza decided to try him in the leadoff spot, especially since he bats from the left side. Mendoza wanted a left-handed heavy lineup against Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, who has a .995 against left-handed hitters this season.
“This is a guy that’s going to control the strike zone, he gets on base and he’ll do damage,” Mendoza said. “Just trying to make some things work with a lot of the lefties that we’ve got today. I like this matchup of lefties against [Elder] tonight.”
Stewart went 2-for-3 from the leadoff spot before being replaced by Nimmo in left field and at the top of the order.
CAUTIOUS KODAI
The timeline for ace Kodai Senga (strained capsule in right shoulder) to return suddenly looks a bit murky. Senga is healthy enough for a minor league rehab assignment but he doesn’t feel that his mechanics are sound enough to compete. He prefers to work on those in the bullpen before he faces live hitters again.
Senga has thrown to live hitters twice and thrown one bullpen. He’s eligible to return from the 60-day injured list May 27, but it’s unclear if the Mets are still targeting a date around that time.
“We don’t want to put him at risk,” Mendoza said. “When you’re dealing with your mechanics, and whether your arm is not catching or you’re flying open, you’re putting individuals at risk of injury. And that’s the case here. He’s very meticulous about his craft and the way he goes about his business.”
Senga will continue to work on repeating his delivery through dry sessions (going through his motion without the baseball) in between his bullpen sessions and the team will reassess in another week.
Building back up to face hitters has been a slow process, but the Mets didn’t know it would be this slow. Senga says his shoulder feels good and his arm is strong. He’ll let the Mets know when he’s ready to resume facing hitters.
“I think it’s just more of his feedback in what he’s feeling physically before we can take that next step,” Mendoza said.
STANLEY IN THE CITI
The Mets had the Stanley Cup at Citi Field on Sunday to celebrate the Rangers playing in the NHL postseason. A handful of players bucked tradition and superstition by touching the Cup, with J.D. Martinez even posing for a photo with his arm around it.
However, president of baseball operations David Stearns chose to respect superstition and avoided touching the 34 -1/2-pound silver, nickel and alloy trophy.
