Mullins Gamble, Errors Cost Mets in Loss
In the week before he was traded to the New York Mets from the Baltimore Orioles, Cedric Mullins made three spectacular catches in center field; you can see them here, here, and here. So, when Daylen Lile drove a ball over his head in the 11th inning Saturday, Mullins had the confidence to believe he could add to his highlight reel.
“First thought was make a play on the ball,” Mullins told reporters after the game. “We were playing a little shifted over. (Tyler) Rogers is a unique pitcher so defensive alignment is a little different. He put a good swing on it. Feel like I got a decent jump. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to have a play, tried to stop myself to be able to read it off the wall. Just got up on me pretty quick.”
The ball struck the wall and caromed so far away from Mullins that Lile was able to race around the bases for a two-run, inside-the-park home run that was the difference in the 5-3 loss to the Washington Nationals in front of 43,412 at Citi Field.
“It’s a tough one there,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But once you realize that you have no chance on that play, maybe you give yourself a better chance to play it off the wall.”
Said Mullins, “It’s just more or less an instinctive type play, just do what you can. I know what I was trying to do there, just didn’t execute it.”
If Mullins plays it differently and keeps Lile from scoring, the Mets may have gone to the bottom of the 11th trailing by one run. And then, who knows?
Mullins’ gamble wasn’t the first time the defense cost the Mets on Saturday. The second inning included an ugly sequence of events.
Juan Soto committed an error on a Riley Adams single. The ball got by him, rolled to the wall and a runner scored from first. On the next play, Pete Alonso was charged with an error when his underhand flip to Nolan McLean covering first was too high. Two outs later, Adams, who held at third on the play when Alonso made the error, scored on a McLean wild pitch.
For the season, New York ranks 14th in defensive runs saved (24), tied for 21st in outs above average (negative-14), and 19th in fielding run value (negative-7). The only team currently in playoff position that ranks lower than the Mets in all three categories is Seattle.
“Look, we’ve been inconsistent,” Mendoza said of the defense. “We go through stretches where we make plays, we play clean and then we’ve been through stretches where that happens. We don’t have too much time. The one thing we can do here is turn the page because we got a 1 o’clock tomorrow so we got to turn the page and get ready for another one. I thought even though we didn’t play a clean game early guys battled back and we were in position to win that game right there. Just didn’t do it.”
The Mets (80-75) dropped to 0-66 when trailing after eight innings and lead the Cincinnati Reds (79-76) by one game for the final Wild Card spot with seven contests to go. The Reds hold the tiebreaker.
“It’s a battle,” Mullins said. “I think at the end of the day everyone knows that so you try to relieve the pressure that comes with it and playing the game the right way I think is the biggest part of successfully coming out on top.”
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