NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Nimmo homered twice and David Peterson threw six scoreless innings in his return to the majors as the struggling Mets beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 Tuesday night, hours after New York owner Steve Cohen announced plans to hold a press conference on the state of the team.
The Mets won for the third time in 10 games and for the sixth time in 22 games. New York began the season with a record $355 million payroll and has struggled to a 36-43 record. The Mets entered Tuesday's game 8 1/2 games back of the final NL wild-card spot.
Cohen grabbed everyone's attention earlier in the day when he tweeted: “I will be doing a press conference tomorrow before the game. You will get it from me straight.”
The Mets, who were coming off a three-hit, 2-1 loss Monday night, started slowly again as Milwaukee's Julio Teheran (2-3) retired the first nine batters on just 34 pitches.
Nimmo opened the fourth with a 422-foot homer, the first of four by the Mets. Francisco Lindor hit his 200th career homer with one out and Nimmo hit a 396-foot, two-run homer just beyond the left-centerfield fence in the fifth. It was the third career multi-homer game for Nimmo.
Tommy Pham had an RBI double in the sixth, when Daniel Vogelbach hit a two-run homer.
Peterson (2-6), who had an 8.08 ERA before being demoted to Triple-A Syracuse on May 16, allowed eight baserunners — five hits and three walks — and induced a pair of double plays in his longest scoreless outing since he blanked Colorado over six innings last Aug. 27. He struck out five and threw 110 pitches, the second-most by a Mets starter this year.
The Brewers Brian Anderson ended the combined shutout bid with a two-run single in the eighth off Jeff Brigham.
Teheran gave up all seven runs in 5 2/3 innings — as many runs as he had allowed in his first six starts spanning 35 2/3 innings for the Brewers — since being signed on May 25 after he was released by the San Diego Padres.
COHEN FEELS THE PAIN
Speaking during separate press conferences before the game, Mets manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler said they have the support of Cohen, even if the team’s struggles are wearing on the owner.
“He’s frustrated — very competitive man, trust me, very competitive man,” Showalter said. “He likes to win.”
Cohen’s tweet announcing his press conference was his first non-reply on Twitter since June 14, when the Mets beat the rival Yankees 4-3 in 10 innings and he wrote “That was a crazy game. Too many mental mistakes but I will take it.”
“I think we’re sharing a lot of the same emotions,” Eppler said. “We talked this wintertime every day, too. So it’s not different. But I think the feelings are different than this winter.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: To make room for Peterson on the active roster, the Mets optioned RHP Vinny Nittoli to Triple-A Syracuse.
UP NEXT
Mets RHP Kodai Senga (6-5, 3.52 ERA) is slated to make his first start against the Brewers on Wednesday night. Milwaukee will counter with LHP Wade Miley (5-2, 2.91 ERA), who has thrown 11 scoreless innings in two starts since returning from the injured list.
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