Center fielder Brandon Nimmo said Sunday he had no doubt the New York Mets soon would get better results from their starting pitchers.
On Tuesday night, Nimmo helped make sure of it.
The Mets will look to clinch a series win on Wednesday night when they host the Philadelphia Phillies in the middle contest of a three-game set between the National League East rivals.
Carlos Carrasco (1-2, 6.75 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Mets against Aaron Nola (4-3, 4.59) in a battle of right-handers.
Nimmo saved a homer on Tuesday, and Kodai Senga allowed one hit and struck out nine over a career-high seven innings in New York’s 2-0 win.
Senga gave up a one-out single to Kody Clemens in the third inning before retiring the final 14 batters he faced. Adam Ottavino recorded a hitless eighth inning and David Robertson worked around a one-out single by Josh Harrison in the ninth.
“Anytime that we can get our starters to go deeper, we’re in a good spot,” Nimmo said. “Obviously, when you’re giving the ball to less people, there’s less chances that someone’s off that night. So when we’re able to do what we did tonight and Kodai does what he did tonight, I like our chances to win.”
But the result might have been in question if not for Nimmo, who kept the game scoreless in the fourth inning by robbing Nick Castellanos of a homer. Nimmo jumped at the wall and grabbed the ball just as it was about to fly over the orange home-run line.
“I was really glad I was able to help Kodai out tonight,” Nimmo said. “He did so well today. We didn’t get many chances to help him out. Glad to help him out in that situation.”
Francisco Lindor homered leading off the bottom of the fourth inning while Eduardo Escobar added an RBI single in the seventh for the Mets.
The shutout loss was the fifth of the season for the Phillies, who have been limited to six runs over the last three games after erupting for 17 in their three previous contests.
Clemens was the Phillies’ lone runner until J.T. Realmuto walked against Ottavino leading off the eighth. But Realmuto, who entered Tuesday with 28 steals in 31 attempts dating to the start of last season, immediately was erased after he was thrown out trying to swipe second base.
Harrison’s pinch-hit single in the ninth kept the Phillies from being one-hit for the second time this season. Lucas Giolito and a trio of relievers combined on a one-hitter for the Chicago White Sox in a 3-0 win in the second game of a doubleheader on April 18.
“We played good baseball tonight,” Castellanos said Tuesday. “But they just played a little bit better.”
Carrasco earned his first win of the season last Thursday after allowing one run over 6 2/3 innings in the Mets’ 10-1 romp over the Chicago Cubs.
Nola didn’t factor into the decision on Thursday after surrendering five runs over six innings in the Phillies’ 8-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Carrasco is 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA in four career games (two starts) against the Phillies.
Nola is 9-7 with a 3.30 ERA in 25 starts against the Mets.
