WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Brandon Nimmo got a chance to go over his breakout performance with New York Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson.
With a grand slam and nine RBIs on the day, there was a lot to talk about.
鈥淗e鈥檚 like 鈥榃ell, nine ribbies, that鈥檚 got to be a career high, right?鈥欌 Nimmo said. 鈥淎nd I was like 鈥榊eah, that definitely is.鈥 I didn鈥檛 know it tied (a) franchise record, but I did know how many RBIs I had. I think before this my career high was five and that was an amazing day as well. These days don鈥檛 come around that often and you kind of sit back and enjoy it.鈥
Nimmo’s performance powered the Mets to over the Washington Nationals. He equaled the franchise record for RBIs set by Carlos Delgado in the first game of a doubleheader against the New York Yankees on June 27, 2008.
The 32-year-old outfielder hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning and his second career slam in the seventh. He also doubled home two runs in the eighth.
He became the third player with nine or more RBIs in a three-inning span within a game since RBI became an official statistic in 1920, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He joined Iv谩n Rodr铆guez in the first three innings on April 13, 1999, and Sammy Sosa in the third through fifth innings on Aug. 20, 2002.
Nimmo finished with four hits in his seventh career multihomer game, raising his batting average from .192 to .218. He hit .149 (7 for 47) with no extra-base hits in his previous 12 games.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a really good player,鈥 Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a good hitter. At some point, you know those guys are going to come out of it. It鈥檚 part of a big league season where at times it鈥檚 going to be hard. And then you鈥檒l see games like this. Hopefully, we鈥檒l start seeing the Nimmo we all know.鈥
Nimmo鈥檚 previous career high was five RBIs at Atlanta on April 8, 2024.
He went deep four times in his first 14 games this year, but he had struggled to produce since then. He had his first multihit game since April 13 in Friday鈥檚 series opener, then followed it up with back-to-back 0-for-4 performances.
鈥淚鈥檝e been hitting the ball harder lately, and that鈥檚 usually a good sign,鈥 Nimmo said. 鈥淲here there鈥檚 smoke, there鈥檚 fire, usually. Just trying to stay with it and keep trusting that it would come along.鈥
Nimmo’s sixth-inning homer off reliever Colin Poche bumped New York鈥檚 lead to 6-0, and his grand slam off Cole Henry made it 11-0. His two-run double against Eduardo Salazar extended New York鈥檚 advantage to 13-0.
Nimmo got another plate appearance in the ninth, but he grounded out right after Mark Vientos homered off infielder Amed Rosario.
鈥淚 was thinking 鈥楳an, it would be really cool to get double-digit RBIs in a day鈥 when I was coming up before Swaggy hit the three-run homer,鈥 Nimmo said.
鈥淲as not able to get over the top of that. But hey, it鈥檚 still really awesome to me all the same to be able to be in Mets history like that.鈥
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