'Gave that one away': Mets split in LA after rough 8th inning

LOS ANGELES -- The weirdness began when Andy Pages somehow put wood on a Reed Garrett splitter that nearly hit the ground, sending it on a hop to third base. There, Brett Baty gloved the ball, ran toward home plate and double-clutched before finally throwing it.

When Baty did, Will Smith froze, knowing his best chance to keep the play alive was to get caught in a rundown. But Baty’s throw was a bad one, hitting the dirt and ricocheting off catcher Francisco Alvarez’s mitt. Still frozen, Smith resumed his path home as the ball popped into Garrett’s glove.

Had Alvarez not been blocking his path, Garrett may have had a last-ditch opportunity to make a play at the plate. Instead, Garrett collided with Alvarez, allowing Smith to slide in with the game-tying run. Three batters later, Michael Conforto singled home the game-winner, dropping the Mets to a 6-5 loss on Thursday and a four-game series split at Dodger Stadium, where they played well enough for most of the week to deserve a better fate.

“It’s just a very, very dumb mistake, and it can’t happen in that situation,” Baty said of the decisive play. “Terrible, terrible play.”

Had the Mets executed the play properly, both Baty and manager Carlos Mendoza said, the third baseman would have thrown home immediately, forcing Smith back toward third base. Baty’s hesitation preceded all the chaos, which is mostly what bothered him after the game.

“Just didn’t make a routine play there,” Mendoza said.

Even more frustrating for the Mets, this marked the second time in three games that a late defensive blunder cost them a chance at victory. In Tuesday’s loss to the Dodgers, left fielder Brandon Nimmo misplayed a Freddie Freeman walk-off double.

For the Mets, the overall result was a split in a series that saw Pete Alonso break out with three home runs, Juan Soto do significant damage at the plate, Nimmo and Starling Marte hit key home runs, and Mets starting pitchers -- including David Peterson on Thursday -- handle the Dodgers with aplomb.

“We ended up splitting the series here, but it felt like we gave that one away,” Mendoza said. “We were sloppy today. We didn’t play well, and it cost us there.”

Entering this four-game series in Los Angeles, it was not lost on the Mets that this is where last season ended for them. For all the Mets’ improvements, the Dodgers did -- and still do -- represent the National League’s final boss. Many plausible roads to the World Series go through them.

As such, the Mets had to take heart in their ability not just to hang with the Dodgers over seven games this season, but to demonstrate that they’re capable of being the better team. Even with Thursday’s disappointment, the Mets beat the defending World Series champions four times in seven tries. They sport a better record on the season and, should tiebreakers come into play later this year, the Mets will have that on the Dodgers, too.

“I can’t say this enough … we don’t want to be in the situation where we’re having to play extra games for whatever reason, whether it’s playing extra games for the division or playing extra games for a playoff spot,” said Alonso, alluding to the Mets' chaotic final week of last season. “Don’t want to have that. We want to pick up as many games as possible. This group understands that.”

Alonso, who hit his third home run in two games in the second inning, went on to note that “they all add up,” which is another reason Thursday’s loss vexed the Mets. While they left Los Angeles one game up on the Dodgers in the standings, it could have been more. Their inability to put distance between themselves and the NL’s presumptive best team could come back to haunt them -- though only, the Mets know, if they let it.

“I think we’re a great baseball team,” Garrett said. “We played a great series. We have a special team. So I think that’s really all we’re focused on is doing the best we can each day and come back out the next day and see where the chips fall.”