MIAMI — Mark Vientos received a reprimand for his lack of hustle on Tuesday.
After the Mets’ 4-2 loss to the Marlins, the third baseman said manager Carlos Mendoza, Francisco Lindor and base-running coach Antoan Richardson approached him about his jog to first base that cost the team a baserunner.
Vientos hit a grounder to third base that appeared to be a routine out. But Graham Pauley dropped the ball and a jogging Vientos was late to start running.
He got thrown out in a close play.
“It’s unacceptable,” Vientos said Wednesday. “It won’t happen again.”
Vientos said the message he received from Mendoza, Lindor and Richardson was to not let it happen again.
Did Vientos realize in the moment he had goofed?
“I hit it to third base and kind of started jogging out of the box, coasting,” Vientos said. “Then I heard the crowd giving a reaction like he dropped it, but at that point it was too late. I should have been sprinting from the [start], right when he hit it.”
Vientos was also visibly upset after flying out in the ninth with the tying runs on base — he fired a piece of his equipment to the ground in disgust.
“I have got to tame it down a little bit, but that is just how I compete,” Vientos said.
