Big Plays at Shortstop Lead to Mets Loss

It was a tale of two shortstops Wednesday night at Citi Field in the Mets loss to the Braves. Ruben Tejada committed a huge error to allow what turned out to be the winning run to score, while Andrelton Simmons made a spectacular play to keep the Braves in the lead late in the game.

Jason Heyward led off the game with an opposite field home run off of Zack Wheeler to give the Braves the early lead.

Wilmer Flores evened things out in the bottom of the second with a solo shot of his own. It was just the second home run of the season for Flores.

With runners on second and third with one out, Justin Upton hit a grounder to second that was slow enough to score the runner from third to break the tie. That left a runner on third with two outs. Evan Gattis hit a routine grounder to short that Tejada simply botched. Instead of ending the inning, a run scored to make it a 3-1 game.

The Mets got runners to first and second with one out in the seventh but both Flores and Tejada failed to do anything.

Wheeler was done after seven innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) on just four hits. He struck out seven and walked three. The loss snaps a six-game winning streak for Wheeler, his first loss since June 25.

Eric Young singled and Curtis Granderson walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Juan Lagares singled to bring home Young to make it 3-2 and move Granderson to second. Duda responded by grounding into a double play. With two outs and a runner on third, d’Arnaud hit a grounder to deep short. Simmons came up with it and fired a strike to nail d’Arnaud at first to keep the game from being tied. It was one of the better plays you’ll see from a shortstop.

Eric Campbell led off the ninth against Craig Kimbrel with a single. Matt den Dekker walked. Terry Collins stupidly ordered Flores to bunt to move the runners to second and third. The Braves brought the infield in against Tejada. He hit a bouncer to third and Campbell was thrown out at the plate. So it was up to pinch hitter Kirk Nieuwenhuis with runners on first and third with two outs. He popped up to end the game.

Mets lose 3-2.