Brandon Nimmo took his lead from first base in the first inning Monday night, and he didn’t hesitate when Pete Alonso laced a shot into the left-field corner for a double.
That Nimmo was able to score from first base on the play was one of the best signs that his troublesome quad injury finally has started to heal, especially since the Mets lessened his defensive burden recently with a temporary switch to left field.
“I felt good, but I still didn’t want to push it to 100 percent. I was like, ‘I’m in a good spot here, and if I stay at this clip, I can score,’” Nimmo said. “That’s kind of the name of the game right now for me, getting up to that threshold and not pushing past that, but still playing at a high level where I can score from first.
“But that’s also because playing left field has allowed my leg to continue to heal, and so I’ve been able to feel a little bit better each and every day.”
Nimmo made his fourth consecutive start in left field during Tuesday night’s ugly 7-4 loss to the Pirates.
They are his first appearances in left since the 2021 season.
He estimated his running speed at “93 percent,” a clear improvement from what he had been dealing with last week due to the injury.
Mets manager Buck Showalter said Nimmo should return to center field in the coming days, but Tim Locastro manned that spot on Tuesday night.
“It was obvious, at least to me, that Nim was moving better [Monday] night. I really noticed it scoring on Pete’s ball down the line,” Showalter said. “I talked to him after the game. Usually, the clubbies and Nim and I are always here afterwards, it seems like. I actually talked to him out in the parking lot.
“He’ll be back in center field at some point, if he doesn’t have any setbacks. But I don’t think we’re quite there yet. I’d love him to get to that 100 percent mark. But he probably won’t ever reach that. I don’t think anybody in that locker room will reach that. But 100 percent of what he has is what we’re looking for.”
Nimmo recorded at least two hits for a fourth consecutive game and hit his 17th home run of the season, a career-high.
Nimmo finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and two strikeouts.
“That’s been the major concern, trying to help out the leg until it’s fully back to 100 percent. It’s really helped out my leg, because there’s less exposure to high speed in left field,” Nimmo said. “That’s allowed my leg to heal, so that’s really good.
“As far as the hitting goes, there’s ebbs and flows, and we went through it. July was a bit of a tough month for me.”
Indeed, Nimmo batted just .161 with a .626 OPS last month, struggling along with the rest of the team before the front office decided the Mets would be sellers at the Aug. 1 trade deadline.
The outfielder is 9-for-18 (.500) with four walks in his last five games.
“I was trying to make adjustments, and looking at what teams were doing, and what I was doing,” Nimmo said. “I felt like maybe I was getting just slightly underneath balls, not even because I was trying to hit the ball in the air. But just because, whether you’re tired, whether it was mechanics, whether it was just trying to put balls in play.
“Once you get to two strikes, [you have to] be a tough out and try to do whatever you can to extend that at-bat. That’s been working for now. I’m not saying it’s going to work forever, but that’s the way the game goes. You have to play the ebbs and flows, you have to play the cat and mouse game. … We’ve been able to have a good little stretch here the last seven days.
“So we’ll just keep trying to ride that wave.”
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