Daniel Murphy had an awful game last night, going 0-for-6 with two strikeouts and seeing his season-best hitting streak snapped at 10 games.
Additionally, it was Murphy’s costly decision while playing first base that really proved to be the fatal blow in Saturday’s crushing extra-innings loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In the top of the 14th inning, after Francisco Cervelli’s leadoff double, Mets reliever Sean Gilmartin induced a chopper to first by Starling Marte. But rather than step on the bag for the easy first out, Murphy threw to third where he had no chance to get the runner.
What resulted was men on first and third with nobody out. The Pirates responded with back to back RBI singles.
“I took a shot. It was the wrong play,” said Murphy after the game. “That’s all I can say. It was the wrong play. It put us in a bad spot. It put Gilly in a bad spot.”
Murphy is no stranger to plays like this and bad decision-making. But this one really cost the team and they cannot afford to lose games like this as they challenge for the NL East title.
