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Francisco Lindor's Confession About Mental Mistake in Mets Loss Raises Eyebrows

New York Mets star shortstop Francisco Lindor addressed the mental lapse he had in Wednesday's loss.
Grant Young|
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

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New York MetsSt. Louis Cardinals

The New York Mets suffered a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on April 1, which drops their record to 3-3 on the young 2026 season.

One loss on the first day of April isn't anything to panic about, and there's still essentially an entire season to play. That being said, there were some frustrating moments in Wednesday's game. Especially from one player who seldom does anything frustrating.

New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta threw a gorgeous changeup on a 2-0 count with a runner on first and one out in the first inning. Cardinals lefty Alex Burleson hit a grounder up the middle, which Francisco Lindor was in position for. Rather than hustle to hit second base, throw it to first for a double play. Lindor meandered to second base and touched the bag.

Instead of throwing to first, he lobbed the ball back to Peralta, thus making clear that he believed it was the inning's third out instead of its second.

Peralta finished the inning without conceding a run. Still, this kept the inning going and extended Peralta's pitch count, which is never something a player wants to be responsible for.

This wasn't the only mishap Lindor made during the game. He got picked off first base in the sixth inning. Juan Soto was at the plate and hit a home run on the very next pitch, which would have meant the game was 2-1 in favor of the Mets instead of 1-1, and eventually headed into extra innings.

Francisco Lindor Gets Honest About Mental Mistake After Mets Loss

Lindor spoke with the media after Wednesday's loss and was asked about the fielding mishap in the first inning.

"I forgot the outs. I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta to go an extra inning, because he had to throw more pitches after that," Lindor said, per an X post from SNY.

He then added, "Unexcusable. And [Peralta] probably could have gone six [innings], probably seven. I just forgot the outs."

At least Lindor is taking accountability for his mistake and isn't blaming it on anything else. It's hard to imagine that Lindor will make this mistake again, as he clearly already feels bad about it.

But that isn't going to keep Mets fans from being upset about what happened. And they have every right to be, given that these two mishaps might have cost them a win.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young covers the New York Mets and Women’s Basketball for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years. He believes Mark Teixeira should have been a first ballot MLB Hall of Fame inductee.

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