Craig Kimbrel is still working out the kinks with his new team.
In his second appearance with the Mets, Kimbrel and catcher Francisco Alvarez got their wires crossed during the sixth inning with two outs on a 2-2 pitch to Shohei Ohtani with the Dodgers leading 4-0.
Alvarez called for time while Kimbrel was mid-windup and the veteran reliever nearly threw the ball at the Mets catcher, who was about five steps across home plate toward the pitcher’s mound.
Ohtani and home plate umpire Nic Lentz immediately ducked to avoid what looked like a potentially dangerous situation if the ball was released.
Alvarez did not get out of the way and instead stood his ground and tried to quickly get into a stance to catch the pitch, despite the distance between him and the pitcher closing.
Kimbrel was able to hold himself back from throwing the pitch and looked away as Alvarez came to the mound — and Ohtani took a sigh of relief.
“Whoa,” the Mets broadcast of Ron Darling and Gary Cohen said in unison.
“Alvarez was running out to try and beat the pitch clock, and Kimbrel was ready to throw the pitch,” Cohen said. “That could have been a disaster.”
“That was almost going to be a little league distance pitch,” Darling added. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before. Alvarez gets time from the umpire, but Kimbrel doesn’t know that. Wow.”
Kimbrel wound up getting Ohtani to fly out to right field to end the inning, though four runs was more than enough for LA as right-hander Justin Wrobleski shut the Mets offense down.
It’s been a brutal stretch for the Mets, who have now lost six straight with Juan Soto sidelined with a calif strain.
They will try to break free when they send ace Nolan McLean to the mound opposite Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday night.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
