Francisco Lindor committed just 12 errors in 151 games, covering 564 chances. The Mets’ shortstop committed two errors on his first two chances, the second of which proved costly, in Tuesday night’s 4-2 loss to the Miami Marlins.
“I felt like we played a clean game except two pitches on my two ground balls,” Lindor, who went 1-for-4 with an RBI single, said after the game. “I take a lot of pride in it, it doesn’t feel good.”
“Very rare to see him with two errors in a game,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It happens; he’s human.”
The first play was a tougher chance, and a more generous official scorer may have bailed him out when the speedy Dane Myers’ slow roller bounced off the heel of his glove as he came charging in toward the infield grass.
The second was a play Lindor makes in his sleep: He was in perfect position in no time to field Otto Lopez‘s 103.8 mph grounder to start the fourth inning but misplayed the hop off the heel of his glove.
“Usually, errors happen when you take your eyes off the baseball,” Lindor said. “And I saw both of them hit my glove. So my head, everything was on the baseball. Just missed it.”
He added: “It’s our job to finish the plays, and today was on me.”
And while the first error went unpunished, the second allowed the Marlins to plate two runs on Graham Pauley’s two-out double to break a 2-2 tie. And the two unearned runs ended up being the difference and spoiled five solid innings from Kodai Senga.
Lindor said that he spoke to the starter after the game, who told him not to worry about it, but “it still kinda hurts” because Senga is a “great professional” and “great teammate.”
“I wish had still done better for Senga,” the shortstop said. “Senga had a great game. It’s unfortunate that I didn’t finish the play for him; he executed today all night long. Definitely should be better.”
But the starter didn’t let Lindor take all the blame, either.
“Since the day I signed with this team, Lindor’s always been there,” Senga said through an interpreter. “He’s always supported me, always given me words of encouragement, he’s always been there for not just me but everybody on the team. So, when he makes a mistake, I need to be there to pick him up.
“Not only him but everybody else on the team. He’s always there for everybody, and it was my fault to make his error be highlighted because of my poor performance.”
The only thing left to do is “go out there tomorrow, work at them and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Lindor added.
Torpedoes jammed
After an explosion for 10 runs on Monday night, the Mets could muster just a pair in the early innings off Miami ace Sandy Alcántara through five innings.
The right-hander surrendered just three hits – a Brandon Nimmo home run, a Luisangel Acuña double, and Lindor single – while getting four strikeouts and needed just 70 pitches.
“The way he mixes pitches, not only the sinker against righties but the changeup, the slider against lefties,” Mendoza said. “He used all of his pitches, kept the ball down, got ground balls, and we didn’t do much off him.”
The four Marlins who came out of the bullpen were equally tough, with only Jesse Winker managing an infield hit before the ninth inning saw Juna Soto walk and Nimmo grab a single. In all, the home side’s bullpen needed just 55 pitches to get the final 12 outs.
“We didn’t have many good at-bats there,” the manager said. “We couldn’t create opportunities until that last inning. Didn’t get much going and didn’t hit many balls hard against their bullpen.”
No Kranick at the disco
Mendoza said Max Kranick could be a “really good” weapon for the Mets after his three perfect innings of relief.
“For him to come in like that and basically save the bullpen and kept the game and gave us a chance,” the manager said. “That was pretty impressive.”
After escaping a bases loaded and one-out jam in his first outing of the year Saturday against Houston, the right-hander needed just 22 pitches to retire nine straight Marlins after Senga’s five innings of work.
“Attacked, threw stikes, used all of his pitches, was pitch efficient, and that’s gonna be huge for us moving forward having a guy like that that you know you can trust in helping you keeping games close or keeping a lead, giving you distance out of the bullpen,” Mendoza added. “That’s a pretty valuable piece.”
Kranick did allow some hard contact, but the results – much like Huascar Brazobán on Monday – were hard to argue against.
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