Third baseman Brett Baty had a game he’d probably like to forget as the New York Mets extended their losing streak on Saturday.
Baty struck out three times and had a bad blunder in the field during a 5-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The miscue stood out most as the Dodgers’ Max Muncy hit a pop-up in the top of the ninth inning with Los Angeles runners on second and third. The ball started in foul territory and Baty couldn’t track it as he went back into fair territory. The ball ended up dropping in for a fielding error, allowing Mookie Betts to score.
“I actually thought I was going to catch it in foul ground and took my eye off of it for one second and kind of got spun around,” he told reporters. “But there’s no excuses for that. That play needs to be made.”
To make matters worse, the ball hit Baty in the face after it bounced on the infield dirt. That gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead and they scored twice more.
But Mets manager Buck Showalter defended Baty on the play.
“It’s not as easy as it may look. It starts out in foul territory and drifts all the way back to where you saw it ended up,” he said.
The Mets have lost four in a row after a six-game winning streak and dropped to 42-50.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brett Baty makes ugly blunder on pop-up as Mets lose to Dodgers