'That's not him': Lindor's gaffes leave Mets at loss

NEW YORK -- Francisco Lindor has not been a stranger to slow starts in his six seasons with the New York Mets, but his early struggles in previous years were primarily limited to offensive production. This season, in addition to his .167 batting average and zero extra-base hits through 15 games, the five-time All-Star shortstop has added a layer of uncharacteristic mental mistakes.

Lindor's latest lapse came in the second inning in the Mets' 11-6 loss to the Athletics on Saturday when Lawrence Butler hit a groundball to second baseman Marcus Semien that should've been the start of an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. But Lindor, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, made a play for the ball rather than going to second base to turn two. As a result, Semien was forced to sprint to second base for one out while a run scored for the A's.

"It's weird because that's not him," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after his club suffered its fourth straight loss. "It's hard to explain. And he'll be the first one. He'll tell you that he's got to be better. But, yeah, never seen some of those plays that he's just out of position at times."

It was Lindor's third lapse in two days. In the third inning Friday, he was flat-footed making a turn at second base on a potential inning-ending double-play ball. In the sixth inning, with runners on the corners and none out with the Mets down 1-0, he was caught off third base on a groundball to first baseman Nick Kurtz.

This weekend's miscues followed two unforced mistakes he made against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 1 when he lost track of the number of outs while fielding what should've been an inning-ending double play in the first and was picked off first base while fiddling with his batting gloves in the sixth inning.

"Not sure," Lindor, 32, said when asked if he could attribute the gaffes to anything. "I feel like I'm locked in. I feel like I'm in the game. It just happens. Gotta be better."

At the plate, Lindor is 10-for-60 with 10 walks, 13 strikeouts, and a .546 OPS this season. Each of his 10 hits has been a single. He went 1-for-4 on Saturday, singling and scoring on Bo Bichette's first home run with the Mets in the fifth inning. He struck out on three pitches in the first inning, prompting an early chorus of boos from the home crowd, and struck out in his final at-bat in the eighth inning before the Mets fell to 7-8 on the season.

"There's always been pressure," said Lindor, who is in the fifth year of a 10-year, $341 million contract extension. "And I've always put a lot of pressure on myself because I expect a lot of myself."

Lindor's offensive struggles have been amplified by star left fielder Juan Soto's absence. Soto was off to a scorching start to the season, going 11-for-34 with a .928 OPS in eight games, before suffering a left calf strain running the bases against the San Francisco Giants on April 3. The Mets are 3-4 in the seven games without him in the lineup.

"He's the same guy," Mendoza said of Lindor. "He shows up. He prepares. He works as hard as anybody. He wants to win. I don't think it's got anything to do with who's in the lineup and who's not. It's weird."