The New York Mets fell to 35-50 on what continues to be a disappointing season for just about everybody involved after the club suffered a frustrating 2-1 loss at the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night.
New York’s lowlight of the evening involved Toronto’s George Springer completing the first at-bat of the bottom of the first inning by crossing home plate after Juan Soto and rookie outfielder A.J. Ewing both misplayed a ball that took multiple challenging bounces off the artificial turf. Following the defeat, Soto addressed what went wrong in left field on that play.
“Weird hop” cost the Mets a run early against the Blue Jays
“I was actually trying to think right before that [play] to come through the ball because weird hops and everything,” Soto explained, per Robert Sanchez of SNY. “Just took a weird hop on me and bounced a little differently.”
Soto attempted to aggressively play the Springer hit on its first hop, but the ball instead bounced over the slugger’s glove. Ewing then tried to keep Springer from rounding the bases for the “Little League home run,” but the ball popped out of Ewing’s glove before he could launch a throw to the relay man.
In the end, a defeated Soto could do nothing but listen to the Rogers Centre crowd cheer as Springer rushed home for the game’s opening run.
“When you have an outfield like that [where the ball] bounces a lot, you have to be aware because you can give up extra-base hits really easily,” Soto continued. “You just gotta be aggressive. That was my mindset. Just be aggressive, come through the ball instead of trying to play back, and maybe bounce over my head, but I actually just stopped.”