MILWAUKEE _ Their outfield depth sapped and several of their biggest bats missing _ injured or otherwise _ the Mets seem to have found a new offensive catalyst at the top of their lineup. And he just so happens to have the most consistent smile on the team.
Brandon Nimmo spurred the Mets to a 5-0 win Thursday over the Brewers with a 4-for-4 night, setting a career high for hits in a game and finishing a homer shy of the cycle. He has reached base in all of his past eight plate appearances, upping his OBP to a team-best .450.
The Mets, after dropping a series in blown-save fashion to one of the majors' worst teams in the Marlins on Wednesday, bounced back with a win against the NL's best to open the four-game set at Miller Park. Nimmo led a balanced offensive effort, while left-hander Steven Matz shut Milwaukee out for six innings.
It was Nimmo who got things started. He ripped a double down the right-field line in the first, but the Mets stranded him and two others. He one-upped himself in the third, ripping another one into the right-field corner, this time for a triple. He scored on Wilmer Flores' sacrifice fly.
Nimmo doubled again and scored again in the fifth, during the Mets' three-run rally, and capped his night with a walk and infield single.
The big night amounted to an extreme version of the sort of production Nimmo has offered all season, though the Mets' roster construction is such that he hasn't always been given the chance to provide it.
But injuries to outfielders Yoenis Cespedes (out indefinitely with a strained right hip flexor) and Juan Lagares (out likely for the year after Thursday foot surgery) created playing time for Nimmo in left. And a lack of consistent production from Michael Conforto and others created a hole at the leadoff spot.
Nimmo has filled in in both spots, starting in left field in six out of seven games since the Mets lost Cespedes and Lagares. He has batted leadoff in 11 of the Mets' past 12 games, manager Mickey Callaway offering him a consistent lineup home for the first time in his major-league career. Nimmo is batting .341 in that stretch.
His previous most consistent stretch of playing time in a lineup spot? Batting seventh for four games in a row in June 2016.
On Thursday, Cabrera and Flores each drove in a pair of runs. Every Mets starting position player had at least one hit. Devin Mesoraco and Amed Rosario each had two.
Rosario is hitting .273 this month and is up to .253 on the year.
Matz's start was his first scoreless appearance since last July 3. His six frames also tied his longest outing of the season.
Matz scattered four hits, three walks and a hit batsman, bending plenty early but never breaking. He struck out three. Milwaukee stranded seven runners and went 0-for-5 with men in scoring position against Matz, whose biggest escape job came in the third. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out, but Hernan Perez popped out to first and Manny Pina flew out to the warning track in right to end the inning.
Right-hander Paul Sewald struck out two in two hitless innings. It was his first scoreless multi-inning appearance of the month.
