Kirk Nieuwenhuis sliced a line drive down the left-field line that kept carrying, and the crowd watched intently, only to erupt when they finally saw the ball ricochet off the top of the wall’s padding. As Nieuwenhuis rounded second base, he paused, too, looking back at the umpire for confirmation. The umpires even consulted the replay for 46 seconds, just to be sure.
Anytime the Mets score a run these days it is a rare event, so perhaps it made sense that everyone needed verification. When Nieuwenhuis took his swing, only one other team had scored fewer runs all season — and Nieuwenhuis was among the least likely Mets to produce it.