The top of the 10th inning in Game 1 of the Mets-Giants doubleheader had already left a sour taste in San Fran skipper Gabe Kapler’s mouth, as a replay review overturned a safe call at first base – one that would’ve scored the go-ahead run from third – and ruled that Pete Alonso did indeed stay on the bag on a Francisco Lindor throw to record the final out of the frame.
So, it’s not a surprise that Kapler was confused and/or irate when Brandon Nimmo, and not Tomas Nido, took second base as the automatic runner to start the bottom of the inning thanks to a double-switch.
Turns out, even though Nimmo came out late in the top of the 10th to replace Travis Jankowski in center field, it was indeed a double switch done properly.
“I don’t know anything about it, I just heard someone was upset, but I told them right away, went out and have them the lineup changes,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said of the move. “When the player gets on the field doesn’t matter.”
A notion backed up by SNY studio analyst Todd Zeile as well.
“To do a double switch, you have to alert the umpire first, and at that point it doesn’t matter where the player is – as long as you’ve told the umpire, then it’s a double switch,” Zeile said. “I think that’s why Buck was surprised to hear there was an issue. Maybe as an opposing manager you see that and wonder if Buck didn’t alert the umpire, but he did.”
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In the end, it didn’t matter much, as Nimmo moved to third on a ground out to the left side, then scored on Lindor’s game-winning single two batters later, so it could’ve just as easily been Nido running.
But, a smart piece of strategy by Showalter, who had pinch-hit Dom Smith for starting catcher and No. 9 hitter James McCann with two outs in the ninth. Smith struck out, and with backup catcher Nido needing to enter the game, Buck took the opportunity to send in Nimmo for Jankowski, who had been the No. 8 hitter in the lineup, in a double-switch so that Nido hit eighth and Nimmo ninth.
“I was getting a faster runner at second base,” Buck smiled. “I knew the way the inning ended we had to make a move…I guess the double-switch is still alive and well!”
Showalter also said he didn’t simply pinch-hit Nimmo for Jankowski for a different strategic reason – “you have to think about what they can do if we do that, and Travis is swinging the bat well as anyone we’ve got right now,” he said – but it worked out in the end with the double-switch.
Kapler said after the game that the Giants' replay coordinator thought the play might be too close to overturn (spoiler: it wasn't, so it was), but Buck wasn’t going to spend much more time worrying about it.
“I’m trying to win a game and then get ready for a second game.”
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