Mets players explain bizarre baserunning mix-up in win over White Sox

New York Mets outfielders Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo were the key figures of a bizarre baserunning blunder committed in the bottom of the first inning of the club's 6-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night. 

Following the victory, Nimmo addressed how he ultimately cost the hosts a run after he mistakenly thought that a shot hit into the right center field gap by Soto had been caught. 

"When Soto hit it, I thought that’s down for sure for a double or better," Nimmo said about the play, as shared by John Flanigan of SNY. "I went to go around the bag and had my back to the play, and then I heard the crowd act like the ball was caught, so I turned around and went to get back to first base -- that's what happened."

Unfortunately for Nimmo, replays showed that the first-base umpire immediately signaled that Chicago's Michael A. Taylor failed to get his glove under the ball before it first hit the ground. Nimmo nevertheless raced back toward first and, in the process, passed Soto on the basepaths. Following a discussion among the umpires, Soto was ruled out. 

"I went and looked at the play afterwards -- probably shouldn’t be so aggressive, maybe just watch the play a little bit more. That’s the quick fix to it," Nimmo added. "But still, I looked at the play and he caught it short hop, so I can see where everyone was confused -- just one of those plays that's unfortunate."

The Mets offense generating undesirable headlines has been a trend throughout the spring. Per Dan Martin of the New York Post, the Amazins had gone 38-for-202 (.188) at the plate with runners in scoring position over their previous 24 games heading into Tuesday's action. Meanwhile, Soto's struggles at the dish have repeatedly sparked local and national discussions even though the Mets improved to 34-21 on Tuesday. 

First baseman Pete Alonso helped prevent the inning from becoming a lost cause for the Mets when he delivered a two-run home run following the Soto at-bat. Utility man Jared Young blasted a two-run homer of his own later in the frame. 

"As baserunners, like, that can be really confusing," Alonso said about the Soto-Nimmo mixup, per Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press. "I mean, I couldn't tell from the on-deck circle, and I probably would have done the same thing. Again, weird play, and when you're in the heat of the moment, you're not really looking at the umpire. You're trying to just see the ball, and from my vantage point, I thought he caught it."

In the end, the Mets were able to chuckle about what Alonso referred to as a "screwy play" after they improved to 13 games over .500 on the season.