Mets' late-inning loss places spotlight on Joey Wendle

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NEW YORK — After the sixth inning Monday, with a zero still in the Chicago Cubs' hit column and Luis Severino cruising, Edwin Díaz started getting flashbacks. It was two years ago to the day that Díaz closed out a combined no-hitter for the New York Mets. In left field, Brandon Nimmo had done the math, looking at Severino's low pitch count.

"Everything was just lined up right," Nimmo said.

And then it all went wrong for the Mets.

Severino lost his no-hitter and the lead in the eighth, and the Mets lost the game when Christopher Morel took Díaz deep in the ninth. A day after one of New York's best wins of the season, it suffered arguably its hardest loss, 3-1, to Chicago.

"It was a whirlwind of emotions," Nimmo said.

CHC 3

NYM 1

Final

The offense continues to be quiet, wasting a remarkable effort from Luis Severino.

The Mets are 14-14.

— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) April 30, 2024

The game pivoted in the eighth inning. Severino took the mound, no-no intact at 79 pitches. Michael Busch worked just the second walk of the game off Severino to start the frame. After Dansby Swanson swung through a pair of two-seamers to fall behind 0-2, he poked Severino's third sinker into center field for Chicago's first hit — and its first threat of the night.

A forceout moved the tying run to third for pinch hitter Nick Madrigal, who hit a broken-bat groundball to defensive replacement Joey Wendle at third. But rather than cutting down Busch at home plate — "Obviously, looking at the replay, we had him at home," Wendle said — the veteran attempted to turn a double play. It wasn't in time.

"Initially, I thought the ball was hit a little bit harder than it was," Wendle said. "By that point, I had already set my feet and committed to trying to turn a double play. If you hesitate there and try to do something else, then it doesn't work.

"It was the decision I made and, unfortunately, the wrong one."

Let's be clear: The game was not lost because Wendle went for the double play. Díaz served up the home run and said, "That's on me today." The offense mustered all of three singles after Nimmo's leadoff home run. But we're going to home in on Wendle here because this wasn't his first mistake of the season.

Wendle had been brought in for Mark Vientos at the start of the inning because of his glove.

"That's his role," manager Carlos Mendoza said. "It's a no-brainer for me there."

Wendle, however, has experienced uncharacteristic struggles with his glove early in the year. An extra-inning error against the Detroit Tigers extended the frame for a three-run homer. A pair of errors in one inning in Los Angeles cost the club two more unearned runs.

"That's been an area of frustration for me early on," Wendle said last week in San Francisco. "I don't feel like I've been very reliable defensively, which is usually a part of my game I pride myself on.

"I'm going to continue to work through those defensive mishaps that I've had early and work with confidence from here on out."

What does that work look like?

"Physical errors are going to happen. You don't want to harp on it too often," he said last week. "At the same time, you go back and re-evaluate: Is my process the same? Am I doing the things I need to be doing every day? When you keep those things in perspective, it's not that you go take 1,000 groundballs, but you have an emphasis on your footwork around a certain groundball or your transfers or whatever it may be."

Wendle was signed early in the offseason to serve as a solid defender and veteran mentor for Vientos, Brett Baty and, at that point, Ronny Mauricio. His fit on the roster grew more awkward with Mauricio's injury, as a lefty-hitting infielder playing behind multiple lefty-hitting infielders. Wendle is off to a slow start offensively, and Baty hit for him in the ninth against Chicago closer Héctor Neris on Monday.

The Mets face a roster decision Tuesday when Starling Marte is due back from the bereavement list. The conservative call would be to send Vientos back down to Syracuse. Still, Vientos hit the walk-off homer Sunday for an offense seeking a lift, and he got the start over Baty on Monday even against a right-handed pitcher who excels against right-handed batters.

Moving on from Wendle, though, would leave New York without a viable backup at second base or shortstop.

"I'd like to definitely clean up some things on defense I've been struggling with lately," Wendle said last week, "but I'm aware of how long the season is."

That's the solace New York could take Monday — that, in the long run, Severino's dominant performance might be more meaningful than the win itself would have been. But for a club searching for some early-season momentum, it was a missed opportunity.

(Photo: Brett Davis / USA Today)