Wilmer Flores flat out flubbed it.
The Mets shortstop faced a routine grounder off Yunel Escobar’s bat in Thursday’s fourth inning that should have been a double play. But “routine” and “Flores” may not be words that belong in the same sentence as the 23-year-old continues a painful transformation into a major league shortstop.
Flores’ sixth error of the season sent Jacob deGrom’s night in the wrong direction and helped doom the Mets to their third straight loss, 8-2 to the Nationals at Citi Field. The defeat was the Mets’ first in 11 home games this season.
Last week at this time, the Mets (15-8) had an 11-game winning streak and were fired up heading into the Subway Series. Now they look to reverse a skid in which they have lost four of five and struggled to score.
But middle-infield defense has been a constant source of concern, and Flores did nothing to quell those worries by booting Escobar’s grounder in a three-run inning for the Nationals.
“[A grounder] is what your pitcher is looking for and you have to be able to execute,” Flores said.
Manager Terry Collins said there’s no reason the Mets should panic about the shortstop situation.
“You look at the way the Nationals are playing right now, their shortstop got off to one of the worst starts I think of anybody and he’s still playing shortstop and they are playing good,” Collins said, referring to Ian Desmond. “I think you have to be a little patient and continue to tell Wilmer, ‘Listen, you have just got to slow down, relax and make the plays.’ ”
A night earlier, Daniel Murphy was slow in completing a double play that left a runner on base for Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton, who hit a thunderous two-run homer against Bartolo Colon.
The Mets have the ultimate slump buster lined up for Friday, when Matt Harvey is scheduled to pitch. But the Nationals have their own ace, Matt Scherzer, hoping to avenge the loss he suffered to the Mets on Opening Day in Washington.
Bryce Harper broke open Thursday’s game with a three-run double in the ninth against lefty Jack Leathersich. The Nationals (10-13) won their third straight and continued a recent offensive assault in which they have scored 34 runs in three games.
DeGrom (2-3) had a second straight shaky outing, lasting just 5¹/₃ innings in which he allowed five runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. The right-hander allowed three home runs at Yankee Stadium last Friday and was the losing pitcher.
The frustration was clearly visible on deGrom’s face Thursday.
“I thought I had good stuff and there were a couple of times, the walks and stuff, that I got frustrated,” deGrom said.
With the surefire double play botched on Flores’ error, Jayson Werth followed with a RBI single. Ryan Zimmerman’s sacrifice fly added another run and Wilson Ramos’ ground out made it 3-2.
“I’ve got to do a better job of picking [Flores] up on that,” deGrom said.
Of Flores’ six errors this season, four have come on throws. After striking out in the bottom of the fourth, Flores was booed.
Stephen Strasburg went 5¹/₃ innings for the Nationals and surrendered two earned runs on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Kevin Plawecki’s RBI double in the second gave the Mets a 1-0 lead before Curtis Granderson delivered a run-scoring single. Flores’ double with one out got the rally started.