With the on-going experiment of Wilmer Flores at shortstop still being evaluated, Ruben Tejada has waited patiently as his backup.
He had played in only nine of the team’s first 27 games and hadn’t hit very much. He had only gone 4-for-24 in those nine games and was 1-for-13 in his previous four games.
However, with Flores now struggling on both sides of the ball and the team seeking improved defense up the middle, Tejada has started three of the last six games at shortstop.
And on Saturday, Tejada came through for the Mets in more ways than one.
He went 2-for-3 with a single, double and a run scored on Saturday. But that wasn’t his biggest contribution or what made him the unlikely hero on Saturday.
He began a stunning 6-4-3 double play with one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning which ended the Phillies threat to take the lead back and crush the Mets in this series (watch).
“It was a great play, a terrific play, by a guy who is a good player,” Terry Collins said of Tejada. “He is a good player and he’s kept himself ready to go each and every day. This might be the hardest I have seen him work, because he wants to get back in there a lot. A big play by Ruben.”
It was certainly an unlikely turn of events for the Mets in the eighth inning. Freddy Galvis led off with a double to center field off of Carlos Torres, who was then replaced by Alex Torres, who walked the only two batters he faced. But then Buddy Carlyle came on to face Carlos Ruiz, and threw the biggest pitch of the night to induce the groundball double play to end the threat.
“I’ve tried to stay ready no matter what and keep working,” Tejada said after the game. “I am part of this team and when I get the opportunity, I go up there and play hard.”
Despite the dazzling play last night and the disappointment early from Flores, Tejada is still best suited to be a backup, and that’s fine. He’s a competent enough shortstop, and as long as he stays in that role, he can be a big part of this club in 2015 regardless of what’s next at the position above him.
Tejada will start at second base in place of Dilson Herrera on Sunday.
Just Mets 