One Mets shortstop is sticking up for another.
Jose Reyes posted a supportive message for Francisco Lindor after his blunder-filled mess of a game in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Cardinals in 11 innings.
Lindor forgot how many outs there were in the first inning and got picked off at first base later in the game, while also going 0-for-4 to drop to .143 spanning six contests.
“Relax everybody… my guy Francisco Lindor gonna be good,” Reyes posted Thursday morning.
“Bad days happen — that’s baseball. Could happen to anyone. He’s human just like all of us. Watch how he responds… this gonna be good for him and for the organization.”
Lindor is catching some flak after a rough mental day Wednesday that dropped the team to 1-3 in its last four games, all against non-contenders from the 2025 season.
With one on and one out in a scoreless game in the first, Lindor fielded a tailor-made ball at shortstop and ran to second and continued toward the dugout.
But his out marked just the second, and Freddy Peralta threw another five pitches in the inning to strike out Masyn Winn and prevent any damage.
“He forgot how many outs there were,” SNY announcer Gary Cohen said of Lindor. “Lindor thought that was the third out, did not try for the double play.”
Analyst Todd Zeile added: “That was unusual for Lindor, he usually knows the situation out there.”
Lindor didn’t make any excuse, and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza added “that can’t happen.”
“I forgot the outs,” he said. “I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta to go an extra inning … Inexcusable.”
Five innings later, Lindor reached via an error to start the sixth inning.
Cardinals southpaw Matthew Liberatore then caught him veering too far off the bag before a steal attempt and a quick throw left the veteran dead to rights on the bases.
Acknowledging the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, that mistake loomed large since Juan Soto hit a solo homer moments later to plate the game’s first run.
“They got us there,” Mendoza said. “He was gonna go, we thought we had a tip there and they got us with a quick step-off move there. I wouldn’t consider that one a mental mistake because he was trying to get some momentum there and being aggressive.”
Fans piled on Lindor since the Mets ultimately fell in extra innings and the shortstop is supposed to be one of — if not the — leaders of the team and shouldn’t be making those mistakes.
And while a 3-3 start is far from disaster, the Mets have not been all that impressive to start the season.
Reyes knows a thing or two about manning shortstop for the Mets after spending 12 seasons with the team from 2003-11 and then 2016-18.
He played the third-most games in franchise history, ranks second in hits and has the most steals.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
