Buck Showalter flashed J.D. Davis a thumbs-up Sunday for making a heads-up play that the Mets went over in spring training.
The Diamondbacks wanted to appeal whether Dominic Smith left early from third base on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning of the Mets’ 5-0 victory at Citi Field. Davis was on first base and took off for second as Arizona reliever Oliver Perez stepped off the rubber, confusing the former Mets lefty with his steal of second to negate the appeal play at third.
“It’s something we talked about in the spring. We go over a couple of rules every day,” Showalter said after the game. “We couldn’t get the phone call quite in time to make sure we hadn’t left early. So it’s something we talked about. I gave the sign to [third-base coach] Joey [Cora], and we took off from first base so we could get the run, I’ll trade the out for the run every time.”
By rule, the appeal was negated once Perez took steps toward second base, but the 21-year veteran’s indecision and subsequent throw to third allowed Davis to swipe the bag safely.
“One of the best ones and one of the easiest [stolen bases] ever,” Davis said, adding he first was alerted from the dugout by backup catcher Tomas Nido. “Buck takes great pride in having his players know the rules and one of the loopholes in that rule, we talked about that in spring training if the opportunity came up. If there was an appeal process and a guy on first base, that he would take off early as a way to distract the pitcher from continuing the appeal.
“Right when [Perez] came set and stepped off, I took off. And sure enough, he took the bait. We got the appeal canceled and kept the run. … That’s all Buck right there.”
Injured starter Taijuan Walker (shoulder) threw a bullpen session before the game, and he likely will have “more than one” rehab start before being activated off the injured list, Showalter said. Walker first will report to extended spring training for a “controlled-environment” start in Port St. Lucie to “get his volume up” before make a Single-A start in a minor league game for St. Lucie or Brooklyn.
With outfielders Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha sidelined since Friday after testing positive for COVID-19, Travis Jankowski started his third straight game in center field.
“I was thinking to myself today coming in how lucky we were that we signed him and got him in the fold,” Showalter said of the Stony Brook alum. “I was thinking about where we’d be right now without him. We’d be having a lot more musical chairs.”
