Francisco Lindor’s Struggles in Loss to Cardinals
ST. LOUIS — Francisco Lindor’s 0-for-4 performance at the plate on Wednesday might not even rank as his biggest trouble.
The Mets shortstop made a costly defensive mistake that led to his ejection from first base during the 11th inning of a narrow 2-1 defeat to the Cardinals.
It all started in the bottom of the first when, after hitting a ground ball from Alec Burleson and stepping on second base, Lindor began walking off the field, oblivious to how many outs there were.
His brief moment of power—if you could call it that—occurred when he failed to throw to first base, squandering a chance for a double play that could have wrapped up the inning.
Freddy Peralta ended the inning by striking out Macin Wynn, then went on to pitch another five pitches.
“I forgot about the out,” Lindor admitted. “The mistake I made probably forced Peralta into extra innings, and he ended up throwing more pitches. It’s hard to excuse.”
In the sixth inning, Lindor reached first due to an error but was caught off guard by Matthew Liberatore, leading to his being tagged out.
Coach Carlos Mendoza remarked, “They got us this far. He was trying to be aggressive. I don’t necessarily see it as a mental mistake, but the first oversight… forgetting the outs… that’s inexcusable.”
However, Mendoza felt there was no need for a stern talk with Lindor. “He knows—he was pretty upset when he got back,” he said. “Peralta really stepped up to finish that inning. You can trust his decision-making; he knows he messed up.”
Peralta emphasized the importance of his changeup, which he hadn’t relied on much recently, as crucial to his success against the Brewers.
After throwing 92 pitches, he left the game with three hits, two walks, one earned run, and seven strikeouts.
“We’ve built a lot of trust with that changeup. I felt today was the right time to bring it back,” Peralta explained.
Juan Soto also continued to impress, hitting a home run that extended his streak of on-base games against the Cardinals to 41.
