The Mets were in a 13th-inning mess largely of their own doing. A single, errant pickoff and wild pitch had a runner on third with no out. Then came a walk and, after a foul out, a stolen base.
The Mets got one reprieve when a fielder’s choice cut down a runner at home. But still it was first and third with two out. Then when the Giants’ Brandon Crawford lifted a fly to shallow left, what remained of Monday’s announced crowd of 24,811 at Citi Field exhaled in relief.
Then screamed in horror.
“It’s an easy play for our team and we just messed it up,” manager Mickey Callaway said with unabashed understatement.
Dom Smith, the Mets’ best defensive first baseman learning left field, came in, shortstop Amed Rosario went out and camped under the ball. They collided, the ball popped out of Rosario’s glove, hit the ground and the eventual winning run scored giving the Mets’ a stinging 2-1 loss to the Giants innings as a strong seven-inning start by Zack Wheeler went wasted.
“On that play, I’m playing deep because it’s late in the game and it’s a high fly ball and it’s pretty shallow,” said Smith, who was charged with the error. “You’re running in hard and it’s pretty hard to take your eyes off it and you don’t really know where the infielder is and that’s pretty much what happened.”
Smith acknowledged he called for the ball late, and next came the collision that allowed Andrew McCutchen to score and make a loser of reliever Tyler Bashlor (0-2), who helped cement the loss with the bad pickoff and wild pitch.
“Definitely, I feel horrible but I can’t do anything about it,” Smith said. “All I can do is come back tomorrow and just keep working my butt off. It sucks especially the way this year is going.”
Rosario seemed intent on deflecting some of the blame away from Smith.
“Basically, he has the ball in front of him and I’m running backwards. He has the better choice and view,” Rosario said through an interpreter.
“It’s part of the game. I heard he called, ‘I got it’ real quick even before I was under the ball,” Rosario said, but later claiming Smith called “when I was ready to call it, it was too late.”
Callaway though stood firm that the Mets flittered away the game. He noted the “inexperience” of Smith in the outfield, but maintained “that’s an easy play. … We missed the ball.”
And that wasn’t the only miscue. That pick-off throw by Bashlor that allowed Chase d’Arnaud (he was cut down at home) to get to second before being wild pitched to third?
“You’ve got to be able to make a routine throw to first so we cost ourselves the game tonight with some fundamental plays,” Callaway said.
And a shift.
The Giants’ first run, against Wheeler in the seventh, came with two outs. Lefty-hitting Alen Hanson was jammed and he plopped a pop into short left near the line. With the Mets shifted, there was no way anyone could made a play.
“I think somebody should have been there if they’re playing normal positions. It’s not on them, but yeah, you get what you want, soft contact and it costs you a run,” said Wheeler, who struck out 10 for his first double-digit strikeout game this season.
Not a fan of the shift, huh?
“Yeah, 100 percent, and I’m not the only one. When the ball gets hit and you don’t get an out it’s kind of frustrating,” said Wheeler, who had won six straight starts.
The Mets gave Wheeler a run immediately. Rosario singled leading off the first and flew home on a Wilmer Flores double. Wheeler made it stand up until that seventh inning — having escaped the fifth, which saw second and third and no out. But Wheeler blew away 7-8-9 in the order on 12 pitches for three strikeouts.
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