It was a night of give and take for second baseman Daniel Murphy on Tuesday night. The Mets lost to the Cardinals by a score of 10-2 and Murphy played a big part on both sides of the scoring.
Murphy, who is a free agent at the end of this season, accounted for both Mets runs on a two-run homer in the fourth inning that came within inches inside the right-field foul pole.
At the time, the two-run shot off Michael Wacha cut the Cardinals’ lead in half to 4-2. Murphy made an emphatic fist pumping run around the bases and he continued his vocal celebration into the dugout.
Murphy now has an amazing 22 RBI to lead the team and is on pace for roughly 100 this season. No other Met is close.
However, Murphy’s exuberance soon faded when he failed to cover first base on a bunt attempt by Wacha in the sixth inning.
Here is how Mike Vorkunov of NJ.com explains it:
With runners on second and third and one out, Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha laid down a bunt. Mark Reynolds bolted home from third base. Lucas Duda and Jon Niese converged on the ball. And as soon as Murphy saw Reynolds run from third, he charged at the ball too. It left no one covering the base.
After the game, Collins still looked upset at what transpired. Asked about it, he sat there, rapping his fingers on the microphone before giving an answer.
“There are times when players try to do extraordinary things when the ordinary is all that’s needed,” he said.
Yikes…
After the game Murphy said he was watching Reynolds and broke when he broke, expecting a squeeze play. But that mistake opened the floodgates for six Cardinals runs.
Any chance for a comeback win ended after that and the team looked deflated. Murphy has become an enigma of sorts, who is tough to figure out. His value to the offense goes without saying, but mental lapses like this leaves you shaking your head. Collins looked pissed.
