Mets’ defense proves to be major difference in NLDS Game 3

There were plays for the Phillies to regret. 

With the bases loaded and no one out in the sixth, Jose Iglesias hit a ground ball to Edmundo Sosa, who was shaded in at second base.

A clean pickup and throw home might have started a double play, but Sosa booted it and only could get one out at home.

With two outs in the inning, Starling Marte smacked a two-run single. 

In the seventh, Harrison Bader tried to swipe second and was beaten by J.T. Realmuto’s throw.

But shortstop Trea Turner could not handle the dart in the dirt, so Bader dove in safely and came around to score on an Iglesias single. 

In the eighth, it was Tyrone Taylor who hit a comebacker to Carlos Estevez, who booted it and then tried to scoop-throw to first, but he whiffed and the ball remained on the grass.

With two outs in the inning, Francisco Lindor drilled an RBI double. 

In a game in which the Mets did just about everything better, their defense shined, too, in a 7-2 win at Citi Field that brought them to the brink of the NLCS. 

“I think we did a great job on defense in general,” said Taylor, who executed one of the better outfield plays you will see. 

With one out in the fourth, Alec Bohm smacked a drive that one-hopped the wall in right-center.

Taylor originally pursued a potential catch but rerouted himself in seeing he had no chance and anticipated where it would land.

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It hit the warning track, then the wall and then Taylor’s hand, wheeling and making a throw that bounced once before reaching Lindor at second base. 

“I had Star[ling Marte] right next to me, communicating that I had a chance,” Taylor said, “just trying to get it in as quick as I could.” 

Lindor waited for the ball to reach him, the throw hopping over a sliding Bohm and Lindor catching it with his glove attached to Bohm’s helmet for a nifty tag. 

“It’s a [one-out] double, and who knows what happens in that inning,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of a frame that Sean Manaea faced the minimum. “And we get him at second base, and we got the momentum back. We need to continue to make those plays.” 

The Mets made those plays Tuesday, the tone set quickly and somewhat ironically by Mark Vientos. 

The third baseman heard the scouting reports as he ascended through the Mets system that he was a bat-first prospect without a true position.

He did not impress originally upon breaking into the majors and was seen as a future DH. 

Instead, he is playing like a future All-Star third baseman. 

In the second inning, Bohm — robbed twice — grounded hard down the third-base line.

Vientos backhanded far behind the bag and drifted into foul territory.

He unleashed a fadeaway throw that hopped once to Pete Alonso, who skillfully adjusted his feet to make the catch. 

“It’s a pretty tough play,” Vientos acknowledged. “I’ll give myself credit — which I don’t really like giving myself credit — but I think it was a good play. It’s a play that I work on, though, so I expect to make it.” 

It is a play that plenty did not expect a young Vientos to be able to make. 

“I take pride in defense. … my work is super focused, attention to detail,” Vientos said. “I want to prove everyone wrong about my defense, for sure.”