The New York Mets had Game 5 of the World Series in their hands, but a bad throw from first baseman Lucas Duda allowed the Kansas City Royals to tie the game and extend the contest into extra innings, where they eventually won 7-2.
The Mets sent Matt Harvey out to pitch the ninth after he went eight scoreless with just four hits allowed in the game. They were up 2-0, yet he started off the inning with a walk and then allowed an RBI double to Eric Hosmer. Terry Collins finally pulled Harvey for closer Jeurys Familia, who got three consecutive groundouts.
The only problem is on Salvador Perez’s groundout to third baseman David Wright, who threw to first for the second out, Lucas Duda made a bad throw home that allowed Hosmer to score:
Hosmer isn't in the screen when the ball hits TDA's mitt. Stfu about how smart Hosmer. It was ALL the error. pic.twitter.com/uuDfvfFPZ1
— Paul Sporer (@sporer) November 2, 2015
The official scorekeeper did not give Duda an error for the play, but he should have. A perfect throw gets Hosmer; a good throw likely does too; and a reasonable throw probably gets him as well. It took a bad throw to let Hosmer score the run.
Credit Hosmer for going home and forcing the Mets to execute on the play. They probably had a better chance of scoring with Hosmer going home than with Alex Gordon driving in the run with two outs on the next batter. Either way, the Mets could have sealed the game right there and then, but they failed to execute and allowed the pesky Royals a chance to tie the game. By that point, you knew the Royals had all the momentum. It took them until the 12th, but they finally broke out and won the game in extras.
Image via World of Isaac
