Shortstop Wilmer Flores made no excuses for the pair of errors that each led to an unearned run in the Mets 5-3 loss to the Braves on Friday night.
“It’s not a good feeling when your pitcher is making the right pitches and getting the ground balls and you’re not making the plays,” Flores said.
“I’m not going to make excuses. Not going to start making them now. Just made a bad throw, that’s it.”
Actually, Flores had four erratic throws in the game which Terry Collins attributed to rushing each play and needing more reps to become more comfortable at short.
He now has three errors in four games and has yet to get it going at the plate, batting only .143 after going 0-for-4 last night.
“This guy has not played a lot of shortstop in the last few years,” Collins said. “We got to get out there and keep running him out there, see how he’s going to do.”
Ruben Tejada has yet to appear in a game this season and will likely start at shortstop and give Flores a day off this weekend.
Obviously it’s too soon to panic, and the Mets will give Flores at least a month of regular playing time before considering other options should the struggles continue.
Besides Tejada, the Mets have prospects Matt Reynolds and Danny Muno biding their time at Las Vegas.
