Players Of The Week: Nimmo and Leone Pull Through

The New York Mets failed to capitalize on a prime opportunity to turn their season around this week, splitting a two-game set with the New York Yankees before losing two out of three against the St. Louis Cardinals. Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Leone both did their part, though, and delivered when called upon in the clutch.

Hitter of the Week

In a season defined by frustration and misfortune, Brandon Nimmo has remained one of the few constants for the Mets.

Nimmo led off Tuesday’s game against the Yankees with a homer while also reaching base two more times via hit-by-pitch and infield single. On Wednesday night, he singled off Gerrit Cole in the sixth inning and was hit by yet another pitch, this time by Ron Marinaccio with the bases loaded in the seventh inning. Then, in the 10th inning, he avenged his baserunning blunder from earlier in the game with a walk-off double off Nick Ramirez to salvage the two-game series with the Yankees.

After going hitless in the first game of the series against the Cardinals on Friday night, Nimmo mashed his second leadoff homer of the week on Saturday afternoon while facing Adam Wainwright. On Sunday, Nimmo came through with a clutch two-out, two-run double off Matthew Liberatore to cut St. Louis’s lead to 5-4 in the second inning.

Nimmo finished the week with a slash line of .350/.458/.750 to go with two home runs and six RBI.

Pitcher of the Week

The Mets’ bullpen has desperately needed one of their middle relievers to step up and go the extra mile all season, and Dominic Leone did just that this week.

Leone’s week started off on Tuesday when he brought in for Max Scherzer in the fourth inning. He promptly struck out two hitters in 1 2/3 innings of perfect work. He was called upon again in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s game, where he stranded the automatic runner at second after holding the top of the Yankees’ lineup hitless.

Leone appeared in his third straight game on Friday. He ran into trouble after allowing a leadoff single and hit-by-pitch, but he induced a double play from Paul DeJong to skate his way out of the jam. He came in during the sixth inning of Sunday’s game for his fourth and final outing of the week, stranding runners at second and third with a strikeout of Nolan Arenado that kept the game tied at 6-6.

In total, Leone appeared in four games and threw four innings while allowing no runs on one hit and two walks to go with five strikeouts.