NEW YORK (AP) — Already struggling to win games, the New York Mets also had difficulty figuring out which pitcher was supposed to be on the mound Thursday night.
Closer Devin Williams headed to the mound from the bullpen to start the ninth inning after Bo Bichette’s go-ahead, three-run double. And Huascar Brazobán walked back to the mound from the dugout.
Because Brazobán crossed the foul line, Williams was prevented from entering.
“Mistranslation there,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after his team hung to beat Minnesota 10-8 for its second straight win. “The messaging there was if it’s tied, you’re going to go back out. We take the lead, Devin’s in the game. The thing that got stuck to him was ‘I’m going back out.’
“I speak Spanish. So I need to go and tell him to make sure he gets the message there.”
Brazobán gave up a two-out grand slam in the eighth to Ryan Jeffers as the Twins knotted the score at 7 and completed their comeback from a pair of five-run deficits.
In the dugout afterward, Mendoza told Brazobán that he’d only pitch the ninth if the Mets didn’t take the lead — which they did on Bichette’s double.
Yet with the lights dimmed at Citi Field for the bottom of the inning, Williams headed to the mound from the bullpen as called for by Mendoza — as Brazobán simultaneously walked from the dugout back to the mound.
Asked what he thought watching Williams trot in, Brazobán delivered an answer in Spanish — punctuated by a profanity delivered in English with an accompanying a laugh.
“The lights are going off, and I was like ‘Wow,’” Brazobán said through interpreter Alan Suriel “So that’s when I realized.?
Brazobán retired Austin Martin on a groundout and Williams then relieved and struck out Luke Keaschall.
“I was frustrated with myself for the prior inning,” Brazobán said. “They told me clearly if the game was tied, I’d go out. But if they took the lead, Devin would come in. But I kind of stayed on autopilot
“Honestly, it was really my bad.”
Brooks Lee singled and scored on Tristan Gray’s single, and Bryon Buxton’s double put the potential tying run in scoring position. Williams (1-1) then struck out Trevor Larnach — just the sixth out recorded by Williams over the last 20 batters he’s faced, during which his ERA has risen from 0.00 to 10.29.
Williams was awarded the win because Brazobán pitched briefly and ineffectively and surrendered the lead while throwing less than an inning.
The win was the second straight for the Mets after a 12-game losing streak — their longest since 2012. All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor was placed on the injured list prior to the game with a left calf injury suffered in Wednesday’s 3-2 win — when Juan Soto returned from a 15-game absence due to a right calf injury.
“A lot happened there from the very beginning,” Mendoza said. “But I’m glad that we were able to get the job done tonight.”
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