New York Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil turned 29-years-old on Thursday, which just so happened to be the Mets’ home opener, as well.

McNeil, who was still looking for his first hit of the season, entered the ninth inning in an 0-for-7 slump and was looking to bust out of it on his special day.

And boy, did he ever come through. Despite going hitless in his first three at-bats against the Miami Marlins, McNeil stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning and delivered when it mattered most.

McNeil made good contact on a fastball from Marlins closer Anthony Bass early in the count, and battled back against his breaking stuff — before getting a pitch to hit. As a result, McNeil received another fastball from Bass and this time, turned on it — sending a no-doubter into the upper deck in right field to tie the game at two a piece.

As the crowd erupted, a pumped up McNeil emphatically flipped his bat in the air with two hands as he knew he got all of it.

“As soon as it left the bat, I knew it. Just to hear the crowd was incredible. It was all adrenaline and excitement coming out at once. Hitting a big homer on my birthday, (it was an) incredible day and my teammates loved it,” said McNeil.

McNeil acknowledged that he has been swinging the bat well despite having nothing to show for it until his final at-bat. Now, he believes this home run was just what he needed to go on a tear at the plate.

“Now the hits are going to drop. I’ve been taking good at-bats, I’m not swinging at horrible pitches,” said McNeil.

Following McNeil’s heroics, the Mets loaded the bases with one out for the struggling Michael Conforto. And in a bizarre turn of events, Conforto appeared to lean into a 3-2 slider that bent back into the strike zone and just barely nicked him on the elbow guard. After watching the replay, it revealed that Conforto stuck his elbow into the pitch, however, the umpires confirmed the call stood after going to the replay.

“Obviously, it was not the way that I wanted to win the ball game. I wanted to go up there and drive a ball somewhere. It was a slider and it felt like it was coming back to me. I turned, there may have been a little lift to my elbow. I knew there was going to be some controversy. A win is a win, it’s over. But obviously, I’d like to use the bat next time,” said Conforto.

According to league rules, you cannot review a hit by pitch as it falls under the same rule of not being able to review balls and strikes. Regardless, the hit by pitch resulted in a walk-off win for the Mets in their home opener and first game at Citi Field in front of fans since September of 2019.

Although the Mets picked up the win, their struggles with runners in scoring position continued. The team went 0-for-6 as a whole and left 11 men on base.

“I’m not worried about it,” added Conforto. “We’ve got guys who are great hitters and are still looking to hit their stride. I think it’s too early (to panic).”

The Mets will have the day off on Friday before Jacob deGrom takes the mound against the Marlins on Saturday for his second-start of the season. Last time out, deGrom tossed six shutout innings, but was removed after just 77 pitches due to the 10 day layoff created by the postponement of the Mets’ opening series of the regular season.

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