Cedric Mullins’ costly miscue the latest of Mets’ brutal defense
The ball zoomed over center fielder Cedric Mullins’ head quickly, and it ricocheted past him off the wall in the other direction toward right field.
A late comeback from a three-run deficit went for naught Saturday when Nationals speedster Daylen Lile zipped around the bases for an inside-the-park home run off reliever Tyler Rogers to account for the final two runs to send the Mets to a costly 5-3 loss in 11 innings Saturday at Citi Field.
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“My first thought was to make a play on the ball,” Mullins said. “We were playing a little shifted over because Rogers is a unique pitcher, so the defensive alignment is a little different.
“He put a good swing on it, and I thought I got a decent jump. Once I realized that I wasn’t gonna have a play, I tried to stop myself to be able to read it off the wall. Just got up on me pretty quick.”
The Mets had committed two errors in the second inning as the Nats built a 3-0 lead against rookie Nolan McLean in their latest sloppy defensive effort.
Center fielder Jose Siri had been booed by the home crowd Friday night after making multiple misplays.
Mullins, who was acquired from the Orioles at the trade deadline, chased hurriedly after the ball after it bounded off the angled part of the wall in center.
He got it to cutoff man Francisco Lindor, but the relay throw sailed high over catcher Francisco Alvarez’s head as Lile slid headfirst across the plate to complete a speedy 14.86-second sprint around the bases.
“It’s just more or less an instinctive type play, just do what you can,” Mullins said. “I knew what I was trying to do there, just didn’t execute it.”
Automatic runner Andrés Chaparro scored from second base ahead of Lile on the play, and the Mets failed to score in the bottom half to fall to 0-66 this season when trailing after eight innings.
“It’s a tough one there, 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,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Mullins. “Obviously, even if he stops there, once it hits that part of the wall on an angle like that, and it bounced towards the warning track, towards right field, there’s not much he can do there.”
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