ST. LOUIS — Francisco Lindor made a couple of uncharacteristic mental mistakes Wednesday, and the second one certainly cost the New York Mets.
The star shortstop lost track of the outs on defense in the opening inning and got picked off first base in the sixth – right before teammate Juan Soto homered. The slumping Mets stranded 11 runners and lost 2-1 to the St. Louis Cardinals in 11 innings.
Lindor reached base in the sixth on a one-out error by third baseman Nolan Gorman, but the leadoff hitter wandered too far off the bag and was fiddling with his gloves when he was easily picked off by St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore.
“I should have been better,” Lindor said.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza credited the Cardinals with making a good move to nab Lindor.
“They got us there,” Mendoza said. “He was going to go. They got us with a quick step-off there. I wouldn’t consider that one there a mental mistake. He was trying to get some momentum there and being aggressive.”
Three pitches later, Soto hit a soaring fly that landed just over the right-field fence inside the foul pole for a solo home run.
In the first inning, Lindor failed to execute a potential double play when he forgot how many outs there were.
With one out and Iván Herrera on first, left-handed-hitting Alec Burleson hit a grounder to Lindor at shortstop. Positioned near second base, Lindor touched the bag but then headed toward the dugout instead of throwing to first to retire Burleson as well.
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 the outs,” Lindor said. “I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta an extra inning because he had to throw more pitches after that. It’s inexcusable. He probably could have gone six, seven innings. I just forgot the outs. I realized there was just one out. Honest mistake.”
Mendoza didn’t cover for Lindor.
“There’s no excuses,” Mendoza said. “He’ll be the first one that tells you that. That can’t happen. He knows. He was pretty (ticked) when he came in. Peralta did a good job picking him up and finishing that inning.”
New York (3-3) went 1 for 29 with runners in scoring position during the three-game series, including 0 for 11 in the finale.
“Hats off to them,” Lindor said. “They executed their pitches. They played better. I’ve got to be better, and go out there and win the next series.”
The Mets have totaled 12 runs in their last five games after scoring 11 on opening day against Pittsburgh.
“Good hitters right now for a couple of games, they’re not getting it done,” Mendoza said.
Lindor remains optimistic the Mets will put everything together.
“I still believe in what we have,” he said. “We have a good team. We are a couple of pitches away from continuing to get the ball rolling on our side.”
