Terry Collins made one thing especially clear after he took over as Mets manager, and it continued throughout spring training: He would bring back fundamentals to a team that was sorely lacking them the previous two years.
But on two plays in particular last night, it was proven that doing that is easier said than done.
A pair of bad throws home by relievers Ryota Igarashi and Bobby Parnell played huge roles in last night’s 7-6 loss to the Rockies at Citi Field.
“You can’t do that,” Collins said. “If they want to play or pitch, they have to understand the little parts of the game have got to be done correctly. . . . We didn’t make them and they were big factors [in the loss]. We can’t possibly continue to make those mistakes.”
Igarashi, who was called up along with Jason Isringhausen to help salvage what has been an unproductive bullpen, made the first mistake after he came into relieve Mike Pelfrey with one out in the sixth.
After walking Dexter Fowler to load the bases, Igarashi got Jonathan Herrera to bounce back to the mound for what should have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Igarashi threw wide to Josh Thole, who recovered to make the catch and tag home, but that was it.
“I rushed it,” Igarashi said through a translator.
Carlos Gonzalez followed with a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield to drive in two runs and tie the score at 4-4. Both runs were charged to Pelfrey, who allowed three earned runs as he labored through 5 1/3 innings on 113 pitches.
After Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki robbed Daniel Murphy of a single that would have given the Mets the lead in the seventh, things got even worse.
“It was a [heck] of a play,” said Murphy, who made his second start of the season at second base and made two excellent defensive plays of his own. “That’s the kind of thing he can do to you.”
Parnell started the eighth by giving up a single to Fowler, who moved to second on a sacrifice and then to third on a wild pitch. Gonzalez followed by grounding to Parnell, but the righty chucked it to the backstop, allowing Fowler to score. Parnell compounded his problems by promptly serving up a two-run homer to Tulowitzki to put Colorado up 7-4.
“I know [Fowler is] a fast runner, so I’ve got to get rid of the ball,” Parnell said. “That’s not what you want to do in that situation. You want to make sure you get one out, and I didn’t do it.”
As for the homer, Parnell insisted he wasn’t thinking about the previous error.
“I tried to go up and in and just missed,” Parnell said. “It wasn’t a composure thing.”
Regardless, it was result the Mets couldn’t overcome, despite a rally in the eighth that began with David Wright’s second homer of the season to start the inning and an RBI single by Ike Davis, but it ended there.
“We’ve got to close out the games we can win,” said Reyes, who had a pair of triples. “It’s a long season, but we need to start winning these games.”
Despite the early results, Collins insists he’s not discouraged.
“We’ve been in every [game] but one,” Collins said of the Mets’ start that now has them two games below .500 and already playing in front of paltry home crowds. “The fight is still there. We’ve just gotta stop making mistakes.”
So far this season that hasn’t happened.
dan.martin@nypost.com