‘That’s not him’: Struggling Lindor’s gaffes leave Mets at loss

New York– francisco lindor Slow starts are nothing new in his six seasons with New York MetsBut his early struggles over the years were mainly limited to offensive production. This season, in addition to his .167 batting average in 15 games, the five-time All-Star shortstop has added a layer of uncharacteristic mistakes.

Lindor’s latest miss came in the second inning for the Mets. lost 11-6 When on Saturday for athletics Lawrence Butler hit a ground ball to the second baseman marcus semien This should have been the beginning of an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. But two-time Gold Glove Award winner Lindor played the ball twice instead of going to second base. As a result, Semien was forced to run to second base for one out while scoring a run for the A’s.

“It’s weird because that’s not who he is,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after his club’s fourth consecutive loss. “It’s hard to explain. And he’ll be the first one. He’ll tell you he’s got to get better. But, yeah, he’s never seen some of the plays where he’s out of position sometimes.”

It was Lindor’s third miss in two days. In the third inning on Friday, he was flat-footed while turning to second base on a potential inning-ending double-play ball. In the sixth inning, with runners on the corners and nobody out with the Mets trailing 1–0, he was caught by the first baseman at third base on a ground ball. Nick Kurtz.

This weekend’s mistakes followed two unforced errors made against him St. Louis Cardinals On April 1, he failed to count the number of outs while fielding what was supposed to be a double play in the bottom of the first inning, and was thrown out to first base in the sixth inning after fiddling with his batting glove.

When the 32-year-old Lindor was asked if he could blame anything for the mistakes, he said, “Not sure.” “I feel like I’m stuck. I feel like I’m in the game. It just happens. Gotta get better.”

At the plate, Lindor is 10 for 60 with 10 walks, 13 strikeouts and a .546 OPS this season. On Saturday he went 1 for 4, scoring a single and bo bichetFirst home run with the Mets in the fifth inning. He was struck out by three pitches in the first inning, drawing an early boo from the home crowd, and struck out in his final at-bat in the eighth inning, before the Mets fell to 7–8 on the season.

“There’s always been pressure,” said Lindor, who is in the fifth year of a 10-year, $341 million contract extension. “And I’ve always put a lot of pressure on myself because I have very high expectations of myself.”

Lindor’s offensive struggles have been exacerbated by the absence of star left fielder Juan Soto. Soto had a torrid start to the season, going 11-for-34 with a .928 OPS in eight games, before suffering a left calf strain while running against the bases. san francisco giants On 3 April. The Mets are 3-4 in seven games without him in the lineup.

“He’s the same guy,” Mendoza said of Lindor. “He shows up. He prepares. He works as hard as anybody. He wants to win. I don’t think it has anything to do with who’s in the lineup and who’s not. It’s weird.”