Was this the worst Mets defensive play of the season so far?

They teach you this stuff in little league. During the sixth inning of Saturday’s game, the New York Mets led 5-3. Runners on the corners. Two outs. A lefty on the mound.

The runner from first for the Cincinnati Reds, Stuart Fairchild, takes off for second. The throw comes in and is way late. Oblivious is the entire team to Spencer Steer taking off from third to score.

Who do we blame here?

The Mets gave this run away to the Reds

Perhaps inconsequential given the final 9-6 score, this was still a big moment and showed a lapse in judgment. Pitcher Jake Diekman jumped off the mound, almost shocked that the runner was going. Catcher Omar Narvaez wasn’t even close to throwing him out. Jeff McNeil made no attempt to cut the throw off and get the runner out at home. The only thing to make this worse would be if it was the tying run.

Diekman would strike the batter out looking on the next pitch. The damage had been done.

Runners are now 13 for 13 against the Mets in stolen base attempts. Narvaez has been horrible behind the plate, allowing 8 of those stolen bases in only 25 innings. The blame, if it goes anywhere, needs to go on him.

Narvaez slightly made up for the guffaw by picking up three hits and driving in two. Defensively, he has been atrocious. While declared a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth, his inability to block the ball and allow Jake Fraley to get to first base on a strikeout shifted momentum further and allowed the Reds to comeback.

In the box score, it’ll look like Narvaez had an average game. We know better. He already has a pair of errors charged to him this season. At least he’s going to hit—maybe?

The defense for the Mets has been far from advertised. Costly mental mistakes like this one shamefully end up forgotten. MLB tracks every stat. Mental errors should be a thing.