NEW YORK – All it took for the Mets offense to explode was a birthday explosion and a friendly elbow bend.
On his 29th birthday, Jeff McNeil hit a tie homer in the back of the ninth inning on Thursday at Citi Field, and Michael Conforto followed with a controversial hit-by-pitch walk-off in front of the reliever. Marlins Anthony Bass in a 3-2 Mets victory.
The Mets struggled to score all afternoon against Nick Neidert and a trio of Marlins rescuers. But in the face of a one-stroke deficit at the bottom of the ninth, McNeil left with a homer in the second pack in the right field. He became the 16th Mets player to make a homer on his birthday.
With a single out, Luis Guillorme and Brandon Nimmo produced back kicks to put two men in goal. The Marlins responded by intentionally walking Francisco Lindor to bring in Conforto, who had struggled throughout the early part of the season. Conforto fell into a 0-2 hole before bending his right elbow into Bass’s step. The referees moved to review the game and it was finally confirmed while the Mets celebrated on the field.