The Diamondbacks’ coaching staff had a clear message for the Mets broadcasting crew on Wednesday — don’t question us.
During Monday’s game between the Mets and Arizona, the Dbacks led 4-3 and let speedy Tim Locastro, who was the potential game-winning run on first base, easily swipe second without even holding him on.
SNY play-by-play man Gary Cohen could not believe what he had seen, calling the move “boneheaded.”
That’s the winning run. Are you kidding me?” Cohen said. “What are they thinking? How do you allow the winning run to steal second base? That is as bonehead a managerial decision as I’ve seen all year long. Unreal.”
Keith Hernandez said: “Oh, wow. Oh, my. Oh, my God. Oh, wow.”
The move didn’t come back to haunt the Diamondbacks, who won the game 4-3.
And speaking to reporters on Wednesday, pitching coach Matt Strom had some words for the Mets’ broadcasting duo.
“I think [manager] Torey [Lovullo] made a very, very good choice of playing behind Locastro, despite what the really smart Cohen and Hernandez group had to say, because I think they’re idiots for what they said,” Strom said, according to The Arizona Republic.
Strom and the Diamondbacks have defended the move to allow Locastro to get second, even if he could’ve scored the winning run from scoring position for two reasons: Locastro is fast and could easily swipe second, and Nimmo has the propensity to hit ground balls to the right side.
If the Dbacks held Locastro on first, the team argued that Nimmo could’ve tied the game with a single through the hole on the right side.
But by playing off the base and not holding a runner on, they took away the hole between first and second.
“What if we’re holding him on and (Nimmo) hits a 22-hopper, a left-handed pull hitter with a right-handed pitcher, if the left-handed hitter hits a 22-hopper into right field?” Strom asked. “Now we have first and third again. It was just worth it to roll the dice with it.”
No such moves came into play Wednesday night as the Mets waltzed to a 7-1 win over Arizona.