The 2024 New York Mets were expected to be a better defensive ballclub. Owner Steve Cohen even expressed how they gave teams extra outs in 2023. So far, however, things have been about the same for the Mets defense. On Saturday in Cincinnati against the Reds, New York’s mishaps on defense were on full display in a 9-6 loss to the Reds. It was a combination of bad defense and a struggling bullpen with numerous unavailable pitchers. Luis Severino pitched well but only went five innings, and the Mets would blow their second 3-run lead in three days.
Photo by Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports
Defensive Miscues
The Mets defensive struggles early, and it trickled down from there. In the bottom of the second inning, Jeimer Candelario hit a fly ball to left field that Tyrone Taylor should’ve caught, but he lost it in the sun. It was ruled a double for Candelario. Two batters later, Candelario would score on an error by Jeff McNeil. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jake Diekman relieved Severino. With two outs and nobody on, he walked Elly De La Cruz and hit Spencer Steer. Stuart Fairchild would drive De La Cruz to cut the Mets lead to 5-3.
Then catcher Omar Narváez, who had a good day at the plate with three hits, made a mental error on defense. With first-and-third with two outs, Fairchild tried to steal second to get Steer to score on a throw to second. Narváez, a veteran catcher with nine years of experience, took the bait and threw to second. Fairchild was safe, and Steer scored, cutting the Mets’ lead to 5-4.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, things imploded for the Mets and their defense. Yohan Ramírez was in his second inning of work and immediately walked Candelario. Jake Freely advanced to first on a strikeout that got away from Narváez. De La Cruz then hit a check swing single that Brett Baty could’ve had a play on but misjudged it. That tied the game at 5-5. Steer bashed a three-run home run, his second of this series, to give the Reds an 8-5 lead.
More defensive woes happened one batter later when Fairchild bunted a ball that landed right between Narváez and a charging Ramírez and ended up going behind New York’s backup catcher after it landed. The inning wasn’t over a few batters later when Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a sacrifice fly RBI with the bases loaded, but Pete Alonso booted the throw from Harrison Bader that advanced them to second and third. The Mets defense has been one of the worst in MLB this young season, and Saturday’s performance was its poorest outing yet.
Shaky Bullpen
The Mets bullpen wasn’t good either. Key players were unavailable because of usage. Diekman and Ramírez were called upon and they struggled. Diekman entered with a 5-2 lead and started out well in the bottom of the sixth by getting the first two outs. However, a walk and a hit-by-pitch started the chain of events that unraveled for the Mets. Diekman didn’t have a shutdown inning.
Ramírez did have a shutdown inning in the bottom of the seventh until the bottom of the eighth. It wasn’t all his fault with the defense being as bad as it was, but he was wild and couldn’t locate. The three-run home run he gave up was the cherry on top of an ugly inning.
Ramírez threw 52 pitches in his outing, which lasted two innings. A case can be made that manager Carlos Mendoza left him in for too long. It wasn’t until it was far too late that Jorge López started to warm up in the bullpen. Julio Teherán briefly did, too, before Lopez. It’s clear Mendoza left him in there to try and preserve the bullpen. It was his game.
Player Of The Game: Luis Severino
This could’ve gone to Narváez due to his bat, but his defense left much to be desired. We’ll give the nod to Severino. While he only went five innings again, it was a quality outing as he struck out seven batters. The Mets will need more innings out of Severino, but they’ll also need more of what he showed on Saturday.
On Deck
The Mets will look to put this game in the rear-view mirror tomorrow in the series finale when they send Sean Manaea to the mound. The Reds will start left-hander Andrew Abbott. The game will be televised locally at 1:40 p.m. EDT on SNY.
