New York Mets hitter Jeff McNeil wasn’t pleased with the Progressive Field scoreboard, which swapped his image out with that of a teammate’s.
It just wouldn’t be MLB baseball without an error involving the New York Mets.
This week’s All-Star break was actually a positive and productive reprieve for the team. Pete Alonso won the Home Run Derby on Monday before driving in two runs during the game itself on Tuesday. Jacob DeGrom threw a perfect inning in the latter event. The third All-Star Jeff McNeil, however, was on the wrong end of a not-so-perfect situation.
McNeil entered the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. When he came to the plate in the eighth, a disappointing visual surprise awaited him. As McNeil went through his at-bat, the Progressive Field scoreboard showcased the face of DeGrom.
jeff mcneil is not jacob degrom lmao pic.twitter.com/1oDX3ztU1y
— Joon Lee (@joonlee) July 10, 2019
McNeil would go on to fly out to left field in his lone plate appearance of the night. He expressed his frustration with the scoreboard after the game.
“That was tough to see deGrom’s picture up there,” McNeil said, per Ethan Sears of the New York Post. “I didn’t really like that. I want to see my picture up there. I know my family did, too. What are you gonna do, I guess. I don’t think that should happen.”
McNeil wasn’t the only National League victim of the Cleveland Indians’ scoreboard. The names of both David Dahl and Willson Contreras were misspelled.
A Cleveland spokesperson apologized for the gaffe in a statement to Andy Martino of SNY.
“We are very excited about the positive reaction we’ve received about All-Star Week events in Cleveland,” the statement read. “It was obviously unfortunate about the scoreboard miscues and we apologize those occurred.”
McNeil leads MLB with a .349 batting average. He and the Mets return to action on Friday night against the Miami Marlins (7:10 p.m. ET, SNY).
