Defense hurts, helps Mets -- all in one inning

NEW YORK -- The Mets aren’t playing in the National League Championship Series without crisp defense.

During the regular season, the Mets ranked 14th in the Majors in defensive runs saved and 13th in outs above average. When the club turned things around in July, its 14 OAA ranked second highest that month. And while winning 20 of its final 29 games to clinch a postseason berth, New York committed only 10 errors -- tied for third fewest in that stretch.

Before the Mets’ 8-0 loss to the Dodgers in Game 3 on Wednesday night got out of hand, second-inning miscues set the tone for a tough night ahead.

“When you're giving a team like this extra outs, extra bases, they're going to make you pay,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, whose club has made four errors in three NLCS games.

Added shortstop Francisco Lindor: “It is a tough inning, but at the end of the day, it's part of the game. It's one of those where if we would have made the plays, things probably would have been a little different. But at the end of the day, it worked out the way it worked out. You've got to live with it, come back and be better tomorrow. It's part of the game. You've got to limit the mistakes. This time of the year, you've got to limit the mistakes to win ballgames. And today they played better than us.”

Following a leadoff walk to Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernández chopped a pitch in front of the plate. Rather than go for the sure out at first base, catcher Francisco Alvarez threw to second (83.1 mph, 95th percentile), where Muncy reached safely and set up the possibility of a big inning.

Right-hander Luis Severino was unable to help his own cause against the next two batters. Gavin Lux hit a potential double-play ball back to Severino, but he bobbled it and was only able to get the out at first as the runners advanced. Named an NL Gold Glove finalist on Tuesday, Severino then couldn't corral a Will Smith comebacker that had a 12 percent hit probability. Rather than fielding it cleanly and holding the runner at third, the ball deflected off Severino's glove and Muncy scored.

“I made big pitches when I needed to, just feel like my glove messed everything up in that inning there,” said Severino, whose five DRS ranked third among NL pitchers. “I was not good, you know? I should have caught those. One should have been an easy double play. Another one should have stopped the guy going to home plate. Made a couple mistakes there, but everything else after that was pretty good.”

But it wasn’t all ugly.

It looked like the Dodgers would break the game open earlier than they did when the next batter, Tommy Edman, drove an elevated cutter to the right-center-field gap.

Center fielder Tyrone Taylor raced to the warning track, where he not only made a sliding grab but narrowly avoided a disastrous collision with right fielder Starling Marte. Taylor’s arm hit Marte’s side before they bumped shins. Instead of a two-run extra-base hit, Edman settled for a sacrifice fly.

“I was just thinking, 'Go catch it,' and then last minute, I saw Star, and I felt fear, because he's a big human being,” Taylor said. “But I just had to commit to try to grab it. Looking at the video, he told me, too, that he would have caught it. But then he saw me last second, too. I think we both knew we were going to hit each other. Somebody had to catch the ball.”

Here are the Statcast metrics on the play:

• 45 percent catch probability (four-star catch)
• 29.8 ft/sec sprint speed (30 ft/sec is elite)
• Covered 104 feet

This wasn’t the first time Taylor impacted a postseason game with his defense. With the Mets holding a one-run lead in the fourth inning of Game 3 of the NL Division Series, Taylor barehanded a ball off the right-center wall and fired a throw that caught Alec Bohm trying to stretch a single into a double.

Though Taylor’s advanced metrics in center field were unremarkable in 273 regular-season innings (0 DRS and 1 OAA) this season, he has 8 DRS and 6 OAA in his career in center. He had been 1-for-4 converting four-star catches in 2024.

“I'm just trying to do my best out there, and I'm thankful for any time I'm able to help these guys get outs,” Taylor said. “It's definitely a good feeling. Just out here doing my best.”