MILWAUKEE — The New York Mets set a major league record with 106 hit batters this season when Mark Canha was plunked twice and Luis Guillorme once in Wednesday’s 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
New York has been hit one more time than the 2021 Cincinnati Reds.
“It’s like a broken record at this point,” Canha said. “We just kind of roll our eyes when it happens now and move on. There’s nothing you can do except capitalize on it, make it hurt, and it’s all you can do. Yeah, sure, we’re frustrated. It’s like not a great thing to happen to your team.”
Mets manager Buck Showalter has repeatedly complained about the amount of times his players have been hit. He signaled for the ball after Guillorme was struck on the right foot by Jake Cousins‘ slider in the ninth.
Asked what he planned to do with the ball, Showalter quipped, “it would be obscene to tell you” before adding: “I gave it to the hitting coaches. They can do with it what they want to.”
The Mets were banged up in other ways Wednesday, too. Mets center fielder Brandon Nimmo hurt his left quadriceps while stealing second base and left after the first inning. Left fielder Jeff McNeil banged up his right wrist against the chain-link fence in a failed attempt to catch Brosseau’s drive.
Showalter said he expects both players to be fine but Nimmo will undergo testing Thursday.
“We’ll get some imaging tomorrow just to see what we’re dealing with,” Showalter said. “You’re always concerned but I’m hoping that his caution there is something that will reap some benefits.”
Canha was hit near the hip in the third and the ribs in the fifth. He has been hit a big league-high 24 times this year and tied Seattle’s Ty France for last season’s high with 27 when he played for the Oakland Athletics.
“I’m closer to the plate and I don’t move,” Canha said. “We have a lot of good hitters, dangerous hitters, and you have to pitch good hitters in, and we tend to get hit a lot.”
A record 2,112 batters were hit last year, topping the 1,984 in 2019. Batters were hit 1,875 times entering Wednesday with two weeks remaining.
“Teams are having to try and figure out ways to get us out, and I guess that’s part of the way, trying to pitching inside,” Nimmo said, “and so you’re going to get hit when that happens.”
Cincinnati pitchers have set a record with 99 hit batters this year, one more than last year’s Chicago Cubs.