Little has gone as the Mets envisioned this season. Even what they are confident they still can count on can let them down.
Though Michael Conforto has played nearly flawlessly in the field this season, the young outfielder committed two early throwing errors Sunday, allowing the Pirates to stretch their lead at Citi Field and eventually cruise to an 11-1 win.
Prior to Sunday, Conforto — who was labeled as a potential defensive liability when he was called up to the majors in 2015 — hadn’t committed an error this season and had been tagged with just three errors in his career.
“This kid’s really played great defensively,” manager Terry Collins said after the loss. “I have yet to see the kid ever not make a pretty good throw and today he made two of them. … Guys were already saying [to him], ‘It happens.’ I think he’ll be fine.”
With one out in the first inning, fill-in starter Tyler Pill surrendered three straight hits, with David Freese driving in the game’s first run. After collecting the ball, Conforto fired to third base and badly overthrew Wilmer Flores, allowing John Jaso to advance to third, and score on Josh Bell’s groundout on the next at-bat.
With a light mist falling in the third inning, Jaso blooped an RBI double to left field, which Conforto then fired high of second base, allowing Jaso to advance to third, and then score on Freese’s sacrifice fly, giving Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead. Two runs were unearned.
“It really wasn’t that slick. I think I was just trying to do too much out there,” Conforto said. “Just kind of one of those days where I was getting under the ball a little bit. A couple of those runs are on me, just sailing the ball. … I think of myself as an accurate thrower. I take pride in that, so it is a little bit disappointing, but lesson learned, and I’ll have that in the back of my head the next time I’m trying to throw somebody out to keep the ball down.”
Conforto nearly atoned for each error — hitting a leadoff double in the first inning, and then leading off the third with a single — but the hot-hitting 24-year-old was stranded in scoring position each time. Conforto finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
“When we’re pitching, we’re not hitting, and when we’re hitting, we’re not pitching,” Conforto said. “At some point it’s going to all come together, and we’re all confident that’s going to happen soon.”
