In the fourth inning, the Mets took a 2-0 lead on a bases loaded, no out Michael Conforto single – but Pete Alonso was tagged out at home by about 20 feet.
It didn’t look like it at the time, but it proved to be very costly – the Mets couldn’t score any more runs that inning, when it could have stayed bases juiced with nobody out. They lost, 6-3.
Third base coach Gary DiSarcina was visibly upset in the dugout after the inning.
Both manager Luis Rojas and Alonso said they hadn’t talked to DiSarcina after the game about the play, but Rojas did not seem thrilled with the situation.
“It was a key play of the game,” Rojas told reporters after the game on Tuesday. “Just watching it on the iPad afterwards just to see what happened, what was the read, because there was nobody playing next to Pete on the left side of the infield. We saw that Pete was avoiding getting hit by the ball, and that stopped his momentum a little bit. …
“Gary’s aggressive, we want him to be aggressive, but there was something that got in the way on the play and stopped his momentum from bringing [him] to game speed again, and it just took him a little longer. That’s why he was out at the plate by that much.”
Alonso gave DiSarcina the benefit of the doubt.
“If the throw is offline, then we’re not even talking about it. … Hindsight’s always undefeated,” he said.
Although the Mets had men on second and third with one out in the fifth and scored none, Rojas had a feeling that that play in the fourth would come back to bite the Mets.
“I knew two runs weren’t gonna do it. … These guys [the Red Sox] average more than 4.5 runs a game. … I knew we had to add some more. We had a very good chance there, didn’t happen, then we had the second and third one out, and strikeout, ground ball, we couldn’t regain the lead. Playing teams like this that can hit, you always want to see your team score more and more.”
It was a rare off night for Marcus Stroman, who allowed four runs in five innings and a lot of hard contact.
But he got all the praise from his manager after the game.
“He’s a really good pitcher. He can induce contact, he can throw strikes. He’s got a good repertoire. The menu of pitches is really good. He’s pretty consistent from outing to outing on what’s working, and if something’s not working, he can choose one pitch and probably use it a little more than the other and be effective. Very athletic, fields his position, he did it again today. And tonight, he happened to run into a very good hitting team that can do what they did with that first three batters that third time through. … Stro’s been consistent for us.”
Stroman said his mechanics were off, likely due to extra rest – Stroman said his form can get out of whack with an extra day or two away from the bump, and that “affects everything.”
“I know my body very well. I’m someone who, for the most part this year, I’ve been very, very good with my mechanics. So when my mechanics are off, it throws everything off. Things aren’t moving like they’re supposed to, you’re not able to locate as well. And I knew it – I felt it kind of in the game. So that’s why I kind of take it with a grain of salt. I’ll focus on that between these next five, six days or however many days I have until my next start, and prepare and be better my next time out.”