At first glance, it seemed like just another routine grounder.
Carlos Mendoza’s choice to stick with Kodai Senga appeared to be a wise move at the moment.
Jared Triolo had seemingly grounded the ball towards the right, which would have made Mark Vientos the third out in the sixth inning.
But, frustratingly, the ball slipped right through a hole in his glove, rolling behind him instead.
This little mishap allowed Vientos to have enough space in his glove for the baseball to sneak in, enabling the Pirates to keep the inning going with runners on second and third.
It was scored as a double and not an error, yet until Brett Baty hit a homer to tie things up in the seventh, that slip-up by Vientos threatened the Mets’ lead over one of the weaker teams in the league during their 2-1 win at Citi Field on Tuesday.
“From the dugout, everything happened so fast, I wasn’t quite sure what went down,” Mendoza reflected. “It was a tough break. I’ve seen it before, yeah, it happens.”
Mendoza approached the mound to check on Senga, informing him that he’d already hit a pitch count of 99 and that he needed to get through one more batter before heading out.
After the double and Senga’s exit, Reed Garrett walked two batters in succession.
As per the broadcast, Vientos also adjusted his gloves after that sequence, fixing the holes between innings. Following a defensive switch involving Russander Aknya and Baty moving to third base, he was pulled from the game after the ninth inning.
Senga’s ERA (1.22) from his start on Tuesday is currently the second-best in Mets history over eight starts, trailing only Jacob deGrom’s impressive 0.71 in 2021.
For the first time since September 20, 2023, Senga surpassed the 100-pitch mark.
Davie Wright, who made a return to Citi Field on Tuesday, mentioned that Pete Alonso “certainly deserves” to break the all-time Mets home run record, which could happen this season.
With nine home runs in his first 42 games this year, Alonso sits third on the franchise leaderboard with 235 home runs, behind Just Wright (242) and Daryl Strawberry (252).
“He’s definitely one of the best power hitters in baseball,” Wright added.
