Mets fans let Luis Rojas hear it after decision to pull Taijuan Walker backfires in loss to Giants
Mets manager Luis Rojas walks to the dugout during the seventh inning against the Giants in an MLB game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
"Fi-re Ro-jas!"
It took a while. Nearly five months. But all the frustration boiling over at Citi Field finally took aim at the Mets’ manager Wednesday night in the seventh inning.
Just about every Met not named Pete Alonso or Jacob deGrom has been booed at some point or another during this maddening season. There was plenty more of it Wednesday, too. But it wasn’t until Luis Rojas got burned by the highly questionable decision to pull an otherwise dominant Taijuan Walker in the seventh that the fans targeted the manager with a very specific, never-before-heard demand.
This was not some isolated incident, either. The chants spread, increased in volume, and faded only when Aaron Loup eventually put out the flames of his own creation.
And in this case, they probably had an ally in Walker, who was visibly upset when Rojas approached the mound after two Giants reached on a fielding error by third baseman Jonathan Villar and a bloop single. Walker had thrown only 74 pitches, his only hit allowed before the seventh was Kris Bryant’s solo homer and he was fighting to protect the Mets’ 2-1 lead.
Until Rojas emerged to take the ball away.
Walker stormed off the mound and stewed in the dugout when Loup’s first pitch, an 83-mph cutter with too much plate, was ripped into rightfield by Brandon Crawford for a two-run double that ultimately was the difference in the Mets’ demoralizing 3-2 loss. As those runs crossed the plate, Walker rifled a water bottle at the dugout bench.
When Walker was asked afterward if he had spoken with Rojas about the matter, he replied, "There’s nothing to have a conversation about. I’m a competitor, I’m competing right there in the moment. Obviously I want to stay in the game, but that’s not my call to make. I show emotions. It is what it is."
By now, it must require a Herculean effort on the Mets’ part to bottle up these feelings as their futility continues to be nightly routine. The Mets have dropped nine of their last 11 to fall seven games behind NL East-leading Atlanta. With only 36 games remaining, the sense of urgency multiples daily, but Rojas said that didn’t factor into his decision. Just the one-run lead, with two on and none out. Straight by the book.
"If there’s more separation in that game, then Taijuan is pitching there," Rojas said. "But we’re going for the win. And we make decisions like this whether we’re in April or now in August. I know it’s controversial because it went the other way. But at the end of the day, for us, the best matchup against Brandon Crawford — out of any of our pitchers — is Aaron Loup."
Rojas has a defensible position. Loup hadn’t allowed a run in 17 1/3 innings, a career-best streak, and had a 0.41 ERA at Citi Field this season. In his previous 34 appearances, Loup’s ERA was 0.30, and Crawford’s double was the first extra-base hit he had surrendered to a lefhanded batter all season.
As soon as Crawford’s line drive kicked around the rightfield corner, the crowd began booing in earnest, with the "Fi-re Ro-jas!" chants soon to follow.
"You try to drown it out and not pay attention to it the best you can, but we definitely hear it and it makes it tough," Loup said. "We’ve been struggling and not playing well, and then you come home and basically get booed off the field. It definitely doesn’t make it any easier."
Of course, the Mets had a chance to take their manager off the hook in the ninth inning with the help of some extra outs on Brandon Belt’s dropped foul pop and two outfielders colliding on a routine fly ball hit by Brandon Drury. But Francisco Lindor popped out on the first pitch with the tying run at second — drawing the loudest boos of the night (which is saying something) — and Pete Alonso left the bases loaded by making the final out on a pop to second.
Rojas’ contract expires at the end of this season, so his future in Flushing remains up in the air. When I asked acting GM Zack Scott on Tuesday if extension talks had come up with either president Sandy Alderson or owner Steve Cohen, he demurred.
"That’s not what we’re focused on," Scott said. "We’re just focused on trying to get on a run here and get back in this thing."
So far, it’s not working. And Rojas’ focus backfired on the Mets in spectacular fashion Wednesday night, prompting the crowd to make it personal for really the first time. At this rate, it probably won’t be the last.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
