K-Rod: Blame Me For Mets' Balk-Off Loss To Braves
NEW YORK (WFAN/AP) — Francisco Rodriguez took responsibility for the blown save that led to D.J. Carrasco's game-ending balk in the 10th inning on Thursday.
"Three pitches, it's a tie ballgame," Rodriguez said. "There's no excuses. I didn't execute and it cost us the game."
The Braves tied it against K-Rod, handing him his first blown save since April 2, then beat the Mets 9-8 on Carrasco's mistake.
Rodriguez, who was pitching in his third straight game of the series, wouldn't blame his rare blown save on his lack of rest.
"It doesn't sour it (the road trip)," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We won the series here, we won the series in Milwaukee. We split in Pittsburgh. We've got to take the positive and go home with it."
LISTEN: Collins on not-so-sour road trip
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Diory Hernandez doubled with two outs in the 10th and took third after first baseman Lucas Duda mishandled Jordan Schafer's grounder.
With Jason Heyward at the plate, Carrasco (0-2) clearly stopped and then restarted his motion as he prepared to deliver a pitch. Plate umpire James Hoye called the balk as Heyward celebrated at the plate.
Heyward said he recognized the balk immediately.
"(Carrasco) went to set and then he tried to go back and get another sign ... without stepping off," Heyward said.
Even Carrasco couldn't argue.
"Yeah, as soon as he said it, it made sense," Carrasco said.
"Not too many things get to me, but to lose a game like that, that's hard to swallow. You've got to let somebody at least hit the ball or do something else with it other than just balk in the winning run, so this is going to be a tough night for me."
Carrasco said he was worried he didn't see catcher Ronny Paulino's sign for a cutter and didn't want to cross up Paulino with Hernandez on third. When Paulino flashed the sign again, Carrasco paused before restarting his motion.
"I saw it," said Collins when asked if there was any question about the balk call.
New York (34-35) had a chance to go above .500 for the first time since April 6. Instead, the Braves got their 13th final at-bat victory of the season.
The Mets won two of three in the series and finished a 6-4 road trip.
"We've got to take the positives and go with it," Collins said. "It was a tough game to lose. We played our butts off to get back in the game."
"We won the series," said Angel Pagan. "We shouldn't be quiet right now. We beat them in their house."
Who do you blame for the loss, K-Rod or Carrasco? Sound off below...
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