Needing a win in the worst way, the New York Mets were sitting pretty until manager Terry Collins gave the ball to Tyler Clippard.
New York Mets 3 (1-3)
Kansas City Royals 5 (3-1)
Full Game Box Score
Citi Field, Flushing, NY
By Robby Sabo
Sitting pretty with a 3-2 lead in the eighth-inning, New York Mets manager Terry Collins decided to go with Tyler Clippard instead of Jeurys Familia for the two-inning save. This decision will be one that’ll haunt the 66-year old baseball-lifer until the end of his days.
With the season on the line, Clippard picked up an out, but then walked two straight batters. With the Kansas City Royals equipped with runners on first and second with one out, it set the stage for one of the more gut-wrenching errors in World Series history.
On a routine grounder to second, Daniel Murphy completely missed the ball one-handed.
This pretty much sums it all up for the #Mets. pic.twitter.com/pGfE63oVRt
— Michael Baron (@michaelgbaron) November 1, 2015
#KeepTheLineMoving. @Royals are ONE win away from a #WorldSeries title: https://t.co/aQ8uxc40DK pic.twitter.com/NPkh0zAOhL
— MLB (@MLB) November 1, 2015
It came off the bat of Eric Hosmer, who was facing the new pitcher for the Mets, closer Jeurys Famlia. Instead of runners on second and third with two outs, a run came home to tie the game at three and runners were firmly planted on the corners with still, just one out.
Mike Moustakas then singled to right scoring the go-ahead run. Then, Salvador Perez did the same thing with the runners moving up in the same fashion. Only a miraculous double-play tag-him-out, throw-out-him stopped the inning at 5-3.
Late game magic! Mike Moustakas hits a single to drive in Lorenzo Cain as @Royals now lead 4-3. pic.twitter.com/J4Ik6G4rY2
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) November 1, 2015
8th inning rally! Salvador Perez drives in Eric Hosmer as @Royals now lead 5-3. pic.twitter.com/GV5cUMnB92
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) November 1, 2015
To pour more salt in the freshly deep-cut wound, Ned Yost immediately went to his lights out closer, Wade Davis, for the six-out save.
Davis breezed through the shell-shocked Mets lineup in the eighth-inning, and then got the job done in the ninth to preserve the Game 4 victory. The Royals have now taken a commanding 3-1 series lead, with Game 5 scheduled for Sunday night.
How Collins didn’t use the NLDS formula in this game – bypassing Clippard, and perhaps Reed – is one of the more mind-boggling managerial decisions you’ll see all season long.
The shame of the entire night revolved around wasted performances from two phenoms.
Steven Matz, who took the ball to start the game, pitched brilliantly through five innings. He surrendered just two runs and seven hits while striking out five Royals. Jon Niese and Bartolo colon came on in the fifth and sixth to get New York out of jams, and Addison Reed pitched a fabulous seventh-inning.
Back-to-back hits to open the 6th will end Matz's night. He pitched well. 3-2 #Mets. Niese enters-0 out, runner on. pic.twitter.com/ESIqRktGQq
— New York Mets (@Mets) November 1, 2015
The other awesome night from a Mets perspective came in the form of Michael Conforto, who homered twice. In fact, of the Mets six total hits, Conforto had two.
Before tonight, Michael Conforto had never hit 2 HR in his professional baseball career… including the minors. pic.twitter.com/6eh1Cflq9d
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) November 1, 2015
To make matters worse, and add onto the sickening feeling for Mets fans, was how this one ended. After David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes both singled to get men on first and second with one out, Lucas Duda’s broken bat flutterball to third-base turned into a game ending double-play because of Cespedes’s inability to read the play.
It wasn’t even close. For some reason Cespedes took off on contact.
Game 5 from Citi Field will still take place on Sunday night with Matt Harvey and Edinson Volquez as the probables.
[su_button url=”https://elitesportsny.com/2015/10/31/steven-matz-will-live-out-his-dream-for-new-york-mets-in-game-4/” target=”blank” background=”#000080″ size=”10″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”0″]NEXT: Steven Matz To Live Out Mets Dream[/su_button]
