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Mets' Soto explains what went wrong during embarrassing play vs. Blue Jays
New York Mets left fielder Juan Soto. Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Juan Soto explains what went wrong during embarrassing play

The New York Mets fell to 35-50 on what continues to be a disappointing season for just about everybody involved after the club suffered a frustrating 2-1 loss at the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night. 

New York's lowlight of the evening involved Toronto's George Springer completing the first at-bat of the bottom of the first inning by crossing home plate after Juan Soto and rookie outfielder A.J. Ewing both misplayed a ball that took multiple challenging bounces off the artificial turf. Following the defeat, Soto addressed what went wrong in left field on that play. 

"Weird hop" cost the Mets a run early against the Blue Jays

"I was actually trying to think right before that [play] to come through the ball because weird hops and everything," Soto explained, per Robert Sanchez of SNY. "Just took a weird hop on me and bounced a little differently." 

Soto attempted to aggressively play the Springer hit on its first hop, but the ball instead bounced over the slugger's glove. Ewing then tried to keep Springer from rounding the bases for the "Little League home run," but the ball popped out of Ewing's glove before he could launch a throw to the relay man. 

In the end, a defeated Soto could do nothing but listen to the Rogers Centre crowd cheer as Springer rushed home for the game's opening run. 

"When you have an outfield like that [where the ball] bounces a lot, you have to be aware because you can give up extra-base hits really easily," Soto continued. "You just gotta be aggressive. That was my mindset. Just be aggressive, come through the ball instead of trying to play back, and maybe bounce over my head, but I actually just stopped."

Andy Green defends Juan Soto after costly mistake

Meanwhile, a Mets lineup that routinely failed recently fired manager Carlos Mendoza over the past two-and-a-half months scored only a single run on Monday when star shortstop Francisco Lindor hit a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning. One may think the struggles of the Mets offense could lead interim manager Andy Green to want his defense to play more cautiously on certain plays, but it sounds like that's not the case.  

"I think he’s playing it aggressively on the outset, hoping to get to it because he made a lot of really good catches out there today," Green said about how Soto approached the Springer ball. "... I think he’s playing it aggressively, hoping to get to it, and sometimes on turf, if you get caught in between -- I think every single time I’ve come to Toronto, I’ve seen that particular play, not necessarily the finish of that play. A.J. usually makes that transfer fine, but that play happens frequently here, and it got us in the first." 

The fact that Soto and Co. didn't recover from one defensive miscue by getting that run back before Lindor's homer says plenty about the state of a Mets team that likely will soon start trading some noteworthy contributors to advertised contenders. New York has now lost nine of its last 10 games and has gone 1-3 since firing Mendoza.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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