One mental lapse can lose a baseball game. For Francisco Lindor and the Mets, it was a pair of them that sealed an upsetting defeat to the Cardinals. Just a day ago, veteran umpire Mark Wegner lost track of the pitch count. And the Red Sox also failed to challenge the call, and it cost them a game. Now, Lindor lost track of outs in the first inning and missed a double play against the Cardinals. He made another gaffe in the sixth that cost the game for the Mets.

However, after the game, he acknowledged his errors and took all the blame.

“I forgot the outs,” Lindor said. “I made a mistake that probably cost Peralta to go an extra inning and more pitches after that. Inexcusable.”

Well, the two errors were so obvious that there was nothing else he could have done. In the first inning with one out, the Cardinals’ Ivan Herrera hit a single and covered first base. The next batter, Alec Burleson, hit a grounder to Lindor, who touched second base for the force out on Herrera. So, it was second out, and Lindor had the chance of throwing to first base and getting Burleson out as well.

However, his brain-fade moment struck, and Lindor started jogging towards the dugout as he thought the innings had ended! While that gaffe didn’t cost any extra runs for the Mets, Freddy Peralta still had to throw five extra pitches to get the next batter out. So, after the game, Lindor was quick in admitting his mistake for letting Peralta do some extra work.

But Lindor had another moment in the sixth, when Cardinals pitcher Matthew Liberatore picked him off, and that cost the team the game. Notably, in the sixth, he reached first on a one-out fielding error by Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman. But as Lindor was trying to steal a base, he just took a few extra steps. And was caught flat-footed when the Cardinals’ Matthew Liberatore threw to first base.

Result? Just three pitches after, Soto hit a solo home run. But that could have been a two-run shot if Lindor had stayed at first. And at the end, the Cardinals won the game by 2-1, which means that one run proved heavy for the Mets.

“I wouldn’t consider that one as a mental mistake because he was trying to get some momentum there and being aggressive.” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza believes the sixth-inning gaffe was not a mental error, but Lindor was just trying to be aggressive.

“He knows — he was pretty pissed when he came in,” Mendoza added. “But you trust the decision-making with this guy. He knows he made a mistake.” Mendoza said regarding the first-inning error made by Lindor.

While that mental error from Lindor could be considered a rare gaffe, the struggles of the Mets’ decorated offense are a more pressing concern. Mendoza might face a challenge in arming his offense, as it got silenced once again.

Francisco Lindor-led offence gets silenced again

Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Brett Baty, Bo Bichette, and Jorge Polanco are the few names who hit the batter’s box for the Mets on Wednesday. However, except for Soto’s homer, no one could score a run in the 11-inning game. The Mets have already played 6 games this season, and they have yet to score more than four runs in any of the last five games. This tells the sad story of their offence.

And if the Mets’ 11-run dominance in the opening game is considered, then this is some unreal downfall. After the opening game, they went 3-for-32 in the last four games, which means a meager .094 batting average! And in all six games this season, the Mets went for 11-for-68 with runners in scoring position. This ranks them 29th in the league.

So, even if Mendoza defends Lindor for his one-off gaffe in the field, the latter’s offensive struggle is too hard to overlook.

The only positive point is how the Mets’ pitching staff performed. On Wednesday, Peralta and Meyers were the only ones who allowed runs. Peralta also had 7 SOs.

The rest of the staff, including Devin Williams and Luke Weaver, recorded scoreless innings. To start the 2026 season, these two relievers have been immaculate, combining to toss six scoreless innings while allowing just two hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

Now, while the Mets are successful in preventing runs, if their offense can’t score a few, fans need to brace up for a few more such upsets.