Tuesday night’s matchup between the Mets and the Twins was tightly contested. Both offenses were unable to push across runs, one mistake could tip the scales in the other team’s favor, and that’s what happened in the third inning.
After Tylor Megill allowed two baserunners to reach with one out, the big right-hander got DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to pop out on a bunt attempt and was a batter away from getting out of the inning unscathed. Ty France hit a soft grounder to Francisco Lindor, but the sure-handed infielder botted the ball and allowed a run to score on the error.
Carlos Correa would follow with an RBI single and gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.
“It happens, that’s baseball. He’ll get over there, he’s too good of a player,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Lindor’s error after the game. “They’re human, they’re going to make mistakes. I’ll take my chances with him every time.”
“Today my eyes got a little blurry because of the weather but it’s unacceptable. What’s happening right now is unacceptable,” Lindor explained. “I gotta be better. It’s not to the standards the Mets have, it’s definitely not to the standard I have for myself. It’s been two games already that cost the team. Gotta get better for sure.”
The other game Lindor is talking about occurred back on April 1, when he made two errors, one allowing the Marlins to score two unearned runs, which proved to be the difference.
Now, his two runs weren’t the difference in Tuesday’s 6-3 loss, but on a day when the Mets offense — outside of Pete Alonso and Juan Soto — could not do any damage against starter Bailey Ober and the rest of the Minnesota pitching, they proved large.
Lindor was asked about the weather affecting his eyes — potentially significant considering Lindor has had issues with dry eyes in the past — but the Gold Glove shortstop said it wasn’t the reason he missed the ball. And he feels bad for Megill who he said executed his pitches to get out of the jam in the third.
“I have to finish the play for [Megill],” Lindor said. “Ultimately, it’s a game of execution. Today they played the game cleaner than us, that’s why they came out on top.”
Lindor had just 12 errors all of last season. So far this year, he has four. The NL MVP runner-up didn’t have a reason for his defensive performance so far this year but knows how important it is for him to figure it out.
“I’m going to have to get better,” he said. “I have to finish the plays for the boys. I have to execute.”
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