Josh Thole may receive at least a few days to decompress after a rough game behind the plate last night. Maybe all would have been forgiven with one decent swing against Javier Lopez in the ninth inning.
But Thole hit a weak comebacker to the mound, triggering a 1-2-3 double play and then watched Au brey Huff homer off Taylor Buchholz leading off the 10th inning. It all trans lated into the Mets’ fourth loss in five games, 7-6 to the Giants at Citi Field, and maybe a chance for Ronny Paulino.
After watching Thole commit a throwing error and mishandle several pitches behind the plate — never mind the fact the Giants were 3-for-3 in stolen bases against him — manager Terry Collins said it’s possible Paulino will get a string of games at catcher to show what he can do.
“Not just that, but maybe to let Josh clear his head a little bit,” Collins said.
Thole was the easy scape goat last night, but R.A. Dickey also had his worst start of the season and the Mets left 11 runners on base. Buchholz (1-1) had his first real misfire of the season with the fastball he left over the middle of the plate to Huff in the 10th inning. It made a footnote of the fact Jose Reyes reached base in each of his six plate appearances — three hits and three walks.
Thole will work with bullpen coach Jon Debus on trying to get straight ened out defensively.
“It’s a matter of relax ing – that’s the bottom line,” Thole said. “[They] get a couple of guys on base and I get tight a little bit. I’ve got to get away from that.”
Thole has thrown out only 15.3 percent (4-of-26) of runners attempting to steal against him. Last night Thole fired a ball into center field with Nate Schierholtz attempting to steal second, helping the Giants get a run in the fourth. And even after the knuckleballer Dickey had been removed, he struggled with a few pitches.
“I’m a little hard right now as far as the receiving part goes,” Thole said.
Francisco Rodriguez walked a tightrope in the ninth, escaping a first-and-third jam with nobody out, before David Wright doubled leading off the bottom of the inning. But with the bases loaded and one out, Thole was overmatched by the lefty Lopez, resulting in the easy double play.
A seesaw game stood square at 6-6 in the sixth after Jason Pridie scored on Reyes’ broken-bat single. Pridie had doubled against Dan Runzler leading off the sixth to begin the rally.
In one of his worst starts since joining the Mets a year ago, Dickey allowed six earned runs on seven hits over six innings, but escaped with a no-decision. Dickey allowed four runs on four singles and a walk in the third inning.
Schierholtz’s solo homer in the sixth that put the Mets in a 6-5 hole completed Dickey’s pitching line last night. The Mets had received a three-run homer from Carlos Beltran in the first and two-run blast from Ike Davis in the third for their runs.
“I didn’t feel badly about the shape of my knuckleball tonight,” Dickey said. “It’s not often you give up four singles and four runs in an inning. That can be enigmatic.”