The Mets’ 5-4 victory over the Phillies may have been a costly one, as New York saw two lineup regulars leave tonight’s game with injuries. The Mets announced that Brandon Nimmo suffered a left index finger contusion that forced the outfielder to leave partway through a seventh inning at-bat, while third baseman J.D. Davis was replaced before the bottom of the seventh due to a left hand sprain.
X-rays were negative on Nimmo, which is a positive sign considering that Nimmo looked to be in pain after fouling off a pitch during his at-bat. It isn’t clear how Davis hurt his hand — he struck out during a sixth-inning plate appearance and then played his position in the bottom of the sixth, seemingly with no issue. It’s possible this latest problem could be related to Davis’ previous left hand injury, as he was hit by a Chase Anderson pitch on April 7 and ended up spending a 10-day minimum stint on the injured list.
Since returning from that injury, however, Davis has been among the game’s hottest hitters. Entering tonight’s play, Davis had an outstanding .395/.489/.632 slash line and two homers over 45 plate appearances, with a 208 wRC+ that ranked seventh amongst all players in baseball with at least 40 PA.
Nimmo hasn’t been far behind in terms of productivity, hitting .339/.453/.468 in 76 PA heading into tonight’s game. Nimmo’s .453 OBP was leading the National League, and ranked fourth overall in baseball (behind only Mike Trout, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Yermin Mercedes) among qualified players.
Davis and Nimmo have represented a major chunk of the Mets’ offense thus far in the season, as apart from Pete Alonso, virtually the entire New York lineup has struggled to begin the season. The Mets finished April ranked last in the majors in both runs and home runs, as well as 29th in team slugging percentage, 22nd in OPS+, and 20th in wRC+.
