QUEENS — Look what the Mets can do when the hitting and pitching sync up.
Brandon Nimmo hit two of New York’s four home runs off starting pitcher Julio Teheran — which also featured Francisco Lindor’s 200th career round-tripper — and David Peterson spun six scoreless innings as the Mets thumped the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 on Tuesday night at Citi Field to provide a much-needed positive result to the struggling side.
“I was able to get him over the plate twice to be able to do some damage on him,” Nimmo said of his big night. “I thought we did a really good job because it seems like nobody else has really touched him up yet.”
The Mets (36-43) had lost 16 of their previous 21 games, including five of their last six, but found a way to rough up Teheran and his 1.53 season ERA.
They could not have asked much more from Peterson, who took a considerable amount of pressure off a heavily-taxed bullpen in his first major-league start since May 15 after beginning the season 1-6 with an 8.08 ERA and being demoted to Triple-A.
He had to deal with quite a bit of traffic, allowing five hits and walking an additional three, but five strikeouts and a pair of well-timed double plays avoided any Milwaukee runs to cross against him.
Peterson loaded the bases in the first after allowing a single and a pair of walks with one out but coaxed an inning-ending double play from Owen Miller. In the fourth, he put the first two men on base but got Luis Urias to ground into another twin killing before striking out Brian Anderson with a runner on third to keep the Brewers off the scoreboard.
“It’s nice to get a quick double play like that,” Peterson said. “It’s fun getting ground balls when those guys are going to turn it for you. So it was a good start and it kind of built up.”
Nimmo recorded the Mets’ first hit of the night off Teheran with a solo shot into the bullpen in right field to lead off the fourth inning for his ninth round-tripper of the season. Just two batters later, Lindor connected for a solo shot of his own to double the advantage.
Lindor’s 16th homer of the season was also the 200th of his career, becoming the 14th player ever to reach that career benchmark with the Mets. He also became the 11th shortstop (60% of career games played there) in MLB history to hit 200 home runs.
“It’s special, it’s a blessing,” Lindor said of his milestone bash. “Especially when you can contribute to the team win. God is good.”
Following Daniel Vogelbach’s lead-off single in the fifth, Nimmo launched his second home run in as many innings out to left-center field to put the Mets up 4-0. It was the center fielder’s fourth-career two-home-run game and his first since Oct. 1, 2021 in Atlanta against the Braves.
With the lead, Peterson hit a different gear to end on a strong note. He struck out five of seven batters from the end of the fourth inning through the sixth after failing to record a single punchout through the first 15 Brewers he faced.
“It was just settling back in and just trying to go as deep as I can,” Peterson said. “I wanted to give the team as much as I had and get deep into this ballgame and that was the objective: Just getting outs and getting first strikes and getting ahead of hitters.”
His night ended with panache from Lindor, who ranged to his right well into the hole at shortstop and made a leaping throw to get Luis Urias to end the sixth inning.
“Hell yeah,” Lindor said. “I wanted the ball to be hit to me. I was anticipating the ball to be in that direction… and I was able to finish the play. I was definitely pumped.”
Vogelbach got in on the action in the bottom of the sixth when — following a Tommy Pham RBI double — took his fifth home run of the season the opposite way to put the Mets up a touchdown.
Reliever Jeff Brigham, who played a key role in the Mets’ meltdown on Sunday against the Philadelphia Phillies, walked a pair, allowed a pair of singles, and yielded two runs in the eighth inning before getting the hook with two outs.
