Mental lapses during a game can happen in the early season, but it’s rare when it happens to a veteran whose known for his sound play.
That’s what happened to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor on Wednesday. In an afternoon bereft of offense and timely hitting, Lindor’s mental lapses stood out.
In the first, Lindor handled a groundball that was perfect to turn an inning-ending double play. However, Lindor calmly jogged to second base for the out and turned to the dugout. Lindor forgot how many outs there were, pushing starter Freddy Peralta to throw five more pitches.
“The groundball, is the one that’s no excuses,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of the mistake. “He’ll be the first one that tells you that.”
And Lindor did, telling the media after the 2-1 extra-innings loss that he simply forgot how many outs there were.
“I made a mistake that probably cost Perlata to go an extra inning because he had to throw more pitches after that,” Lindor said. “Inexcusable. He probably could have gone six, maybe seven. I just forgot the outs.”
The mistake didn’t cost the Mets any runs. Peralta finished the inning, striking out the next batter en route to throwing 92 pitches across 5.1 innings. The ace of the Mets staff allowed just one run, but it wasn’t enough as the Mets offense pushed across just one run, but it potentially could have been more.
In the sixth, and the game scoreless, Lindor reached on an error with one out. With Juan Soto at the plate, Lindor was picked off without even a slide from the Mets shortstop.
Soto would homer three pitches later to give the Mets the lead. Unfortunately, it would not hold up as the Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the inning and eventually won in the 11th.
“The pickoff, they got us there. [Lindor] was going to go, we thought we had a tip there and they got us with a quick, step-off move there,” Mendoza said. “I wouldn’t consider that one as a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum there and be aggressive.”
“I should have been better,” Lindor said of the play. “That’s all I got.”
If the Mets win on Wednesday, the mistakes are glossed over, but the loss puts a magnifying glass over a team that has struggled offensively. After scoring 11 runs in their Opening Day win against the Pirates, the Mets have pushed across just 12 runs over the next five games. On Wednesday, the Mets were 0-for-11 with RISP and left 11 runners on base.
Lindor is not too concerned with the offense’s early-season struggles. The Mets (3-3) still have 156 games to go in the season.
“Our pitchers have done a tremendous job. We gotta score runs for them,” Lindor said. “It’s one of those that you hope to put it together as many times as you can during the year. We have put it together, just not every day. Gotta go out there, continue to believe in each other, pass the baton. I trust the guy behind me more than I trust myself. It’s that type of mentality. We’re going to be on top more times than not.”
The Mets will hope to turn their struggles around when they open a four-game series against the Giants in San Francisco starting Thursday.
Read the full article here