Mets’ Brandon Nimmo robs another homer in latest defensive gem: ‘Insane catch’

Off the bat, Carlos Mendoza thought it was gone.

Pete Alonso’s mind kept repeating, “Don’t be a homer.”

But from his spot in left field, as Joey Bart’s fly ball sailed toward left field to lead off the eighth inning, Brandon Nimmo thought he had a chance.

Nimmo had already robbed Jordan Walker of a homer during a game against the Cardinals last month, but he said he also tried to learn from a similar sequence during the last homestand when he was flat-footed near the wall and couldn’t prevent a ball from going over the fence.

When he leapt and came down with Bart’s ball, Nimmo helped keep the Mets lead at the time intact and prevented the ninth inning — when two infield errors allowed the tying run to score — from becoming even more disastrous in their 4-3 walk-off win Tuesday against the Pirates at Citi Field.

“It’s a close game,” Nimmo said. “Obviously, that would’ve tied the game, so you’re turning momentum right there. … That’s a big momentum shift in the game, where they tie the game, it kind of deflates things a little bit. But instead, we’re still up one run, and we’re able to keep the lead in that situation.”

In many ways, this was nothing new for Nimmo.

The catch that robbed a homer.

The fist pump and roar after he landed.

He made a highlight-reel, homer-robbing catch against the Dodgers in center during the 2022 season — one of the signature defensive highlights tacked to his résumé — and then managed to snag Walker’s homer before it cleared the fence last month, too.

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This time, Bart’s fly ball left his bat with a 100.2 mph exit velocity and an expected batting average of .400.

Instead of a tie game and another rocky outing for Dedniel Núñez, the Mets reliever tipped his hat as Nimmo — who also doubled and scored off Pittsburgh ace Paul Skenes in the fourth inning — bumped chests with Tyrone Taylor in the outfield to celebrate what manager Carlos Mendoza described as a “hell of a play.”

The Mets had just taken their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the previous frame, too.

The Mets needed that saved run, too, when Francisco Lindor committed an error in the ninth inning, Luisangel Acuña couldn’t make a play on another grounder at third base and the Pirates tied the game. Nimmo’s defense saved them from being down a run.

It allowed Alonso’s sacrifice fly in the ninth to serve as a game-winning RBI instead of a game-tying run.

And it served as the latest defensive gem Nimmo has produced for the Mets.

“That was obviously an insane catch,” Alonso said. “That’s gonna be on ESPN tomorrow, hopefully.”