NEW YORK (AP) — New leadoff batter Brandon Nimmo launched a grand slam off rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski, and the New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-3 on Wednesday to split their day-night doubleheader.
Dropped from the top spot, slumping All-Star Francisco Lindor followed Nimmo’s second-inning slam with a home run and finished with three RBIs as the Mets snapped a four-game slide by winning for only the fourth time in 18 games.
Joey Ortiz hit a tiebreaking grand slam in the sixth inning of the opener that sent Milwaukee to a 7-2 victory behind Freddy Peralta in the makeup of Tuesday night’s rainout.
Misiorowski (3-1) came out firing 100 mph fastballs, touching 102 mph against Lindor in the first, but the 23-year-old right-hander was finally tagged in his fourth major league start. He was charged with five runs, five hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings.
Mets rookie Blade Tidwell (1-1) earned his first career win, pitching four scoreless innings in relief of opener Huascar Brazobán before giving up back-to-back homers to Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio to begin the sixth.
Dedniel Núñez worked out of trouble in the sixth, Richard Lovelady tossed a perfect seventh and Edwin Díaz got four outs for his 17th save in 18 chances.
Díaz retired all four batters he faced, striking out three.
Key moments
Lindor delivered an RBI single with two outs in the sixth and a run-scoring double with two outs in the eighth.
Key stats
Coming into the game, Misiorowski had thrown 62 pitches at least 100 mph and opposing batters were 3 for 49 (.061) against him, making him the first pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) to have as many wins as hits allowed through three career starts.
Up next
After spending the past two seasons with the Mets, left-hander Jose Quintana (6-2, 3.30 ERA) starts for Milwaukee against his former team in the series finale Thursday night. LHP David Peterson (5-4, 3.30) gets the ball for New York.
