British stone. LOUIS (AP) — Francisco Lindor made a couple of unusual mental errors on Wednesday, the second of which certainly cost the New York Mets.
The star shortstop lost track of the defense in the first inning and was singled to first base in the sixth – just before teammate Juan Soto’s home run. The slumping Mets held up 11 runners in 11 innings and lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Lindor reached base in the sixth inning on a one-out error by third baseman Nolan Gorman, but the leadoff hitter was too far from the bag and was easily knocked out by St. Louis starter Matthew Libertore while fiddling with his glove.
“I should have done better,” Lindor said.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza praised the Cardinals for making a good move in grabbing Lindor.
“They brought us there,” Mendoza said. “He was going to go. They got off there fast and put us in trouble. I don’t think that was a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum out there and be aggressive.”
Three pitches later, Soto hit a fly ball that landed on the right-field fence just inside the foul pole for a solo home run.
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In the first inning, Lindor lost track of how many outs there were and failed to execute a potential double play.
With one out and Iván Herrera at first, left-hander Alec Burleson hit a ground ball to shortstop Lindor. Lindor was positioned near second base and touched the bag, but then walked to the dugout instead of throwing to first base, also ejecting Burleson.
By the time Lindor realized his mistake, it was too late. New York starter Freddy Peralta struck out the next batter to end the inning.
“I forgot about the out,” Lindor said. “I made a mistake and probably let Peralta go an extra inning because he had to pitch more pitches after that. It was inexcusable. He probably would have gone six or seven innings. I just forgot about the outs. I realized there was only one out. Honest mistake.”
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Mendoza did not replace Lindor.
“There’s no excuse,” Mendoza said. “He’ll be the first one to tell you that. That couldn’t happen. He knew that. He came in and made a great play. Peralta did a great job catching him and finishing that inning.”
New York (3-3) was 1-for-29 with runners in scoring position in the three-game series, including 0-for-11 in the final.
“Hats off to them,” Lindor said. “They executed their pitches. They hit better. I’ve got to get better and win the next series.”
The Mets scored 11 runs in the opener against Pittsburgh and have scored a total of 12 runs in their past five games.
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“There’s been a couple of games now with good hitters, but they’re not getting the job done,” Mendoza said.
Lindor remains optimistic the Mets will put it all together.
“I still believe in what we have,” he said. “We have a good team. We’re a few pitches away from continuing to keep the ball rolling in our end.”
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Associated Press MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
