Happy Jeff was Walk-off Jeff on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Jeff McNeil wore a huge smile on his face as he lined a single in the 10th inning of Tuesday’s game against the Nationals to drive in the winning run. It was the culmination of a great day — and week — at the plate for McNeil, who has had his ups and downs with the Mets since winning the batting title in 2022.
His walk-off single capped off his 2-for-4, two RBI day as the Mets defeated the Nationals, 5-4, to extend their winning streak to four games and start their homestand on a happy note.
“I was just looking for anything I could hit to the right side. Wasn’t trying to do too much,” McNeil said of his final at-bat. “Feel like they were trying to go hard away, so I was cheating for something out there, hooked a ball to the right side and got down.”
McNeil said he’s been trying to swing the bat harder instead of “guiding” his bat to the ball like he’s done when he is struggling at the plate. And to him, it’s really just as simple as that.
“It’s pretty hard to hit for average in this league. Pitchers are so good and so tough,” McNeil said. “When you do get a good pitch to hit, you gotta do some damage on it. That’s what I’ve been trying to do lately and it’s been paying off.”
Over his last seven games, McNeil is hitting .333 with a .741 slugging percentage thanks to three home runs. Going back to his last 15 games, McNeil is still hitting .286 with four home runs and 11 RBI. That sort of hitting and “damage” has allowed manager Carlos Mendoza to start McNeil just about every day to lengthen his lineup.
But Mendoza remembers how tough it was for McNeil a season ago, but also remembers the turnaround and knows he can get that out of his player this season.
“I’m going to go back to the second half last year when he turned it around. When he started driving the ball using the whole field, just dictating at-bats and putting swings with conviction,” Mendoza said of McNeil’s contributions. “The past week, I feel like he’s done that, where he’s putting himself in a really good position to hit and not only hit, but do damage.
“We know the bat-to-ball skills are off the charts. I feel like he gets in trouble at times when he just tries to put a ball in play on pitcher’s pitches. As opposed to getting a pitch to drive. We’ve seen that. And when he’s going that way, he’s a really good hitter.”
A year ago, in his first season managing, Mendoza saw McNeil struggle mightily at the plate. In the first half, McNeil was slashing .216/.276/.314 with a .591 OPS. But adjustments, like swinging harder, paid off for the veteran infielder/outfielder. In the second half, McNeil slashed .289/.376/.547 with a .923 OPS.
“The first half of last year is not who I am. It was tough. It was frustrating. It was not very fun,” McNeil said. “This game is about adjustments and I feel I’m the kind of player that can adjust on the fly, do what I need to do and get the job done.”
With Tuesday’s win, the Mets sit atop the National League at 43-24 and five games ahead of the Phillies in the NL East.
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