Just Mets

One day was seemingly compounding the next for Wilmer Flores. The sun just wasn’t peaking through the clouds, despite the hope that it would when it came to his defense improving.

It just wasn’t happening for Flores. He committed his ninth error of the season in Chicago on Thursday in only 259 1/3 innings at the position, which equates to about one error every nine or so innings.

What’s worse, despite leading the team in home runs and a recent uptick in production lately, Flores was hitting only .240 with a .288 on-base percentage heading into Saturday night’s game.

But the skies cleared for Flores on a rainy night at Citi Field on Saturday.

Flores launched a grand slam into the left field seats as part of a ten-run inning for the Mets, guiding the Mets to a dominating 14-1 win, a game the Mets badly needed to get in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

“When you’re struggling, when you’re supposed to hit and you’re not hitting, now you have a couple of rough defensive games, you really say ‘I’ve got to start hitting! I’ve got to start hitting!’ ” Terry Collins said about Flores after the game. “You get overanxious, swing at some bad pitches. Tonight he showed what he’s capable of doing, and that’s have a big night offensively.”

Collins believes Flores has been putting pressure on himself at the plate amid his struggles defensively, which was clear and really wasn’t a surprise. He knows how it’s been going at shortstop, he’s asked questions daily about his confidence and his issues at the position, and he probably knows the team will eventually make a change if it doesn’t improve, which makes it all worse for him and his confidence.

It was Flores’ second career grand slam – his first came on June 2, 2014 in Philadelphia.

“I’m trying to do my best,” Flores said at his locker on Saturday night. “Nobody’s going to tell you that hitting is easy in the big leagues. It’s not easy. You’re going to hit one day, and you’re going to go 0-for-4. It has happened to me before. You’ve just got to keep pushing, that’s it.’’

“I hope [Saturday’s performance] helps his confidence and gets him going,” Collins explained. “There’s going to be another night where he makes an error; it’s part of the game. But if he gets to swinging the bat, we’re going to like the results.”

Collins chose to bat Flores ninth in the order behind Jacob deGrom, who went 3-for-3 and scored on Flores’ grand slam.

“Every time you hit a homer it’s a good feeling, but with the bases loaded and the situation we were in it feels good, as a team and for myself,” Flores said.

It’s hard not to root for Flores despite what is being perceived as a failed experiment with him at shortstop. He works as hard as anyone out there, has worked to improve his foot speed and agility for two consecutive winters at Barwis Methods, yet the results have yet to translate to any sort of real success this season.

But on Saturday, Flores gave himself, his teammates, and the fans a reason to smile for his performance. For one day anyway, the clouds cleared for the 23-year-old shortstop. And hopefully, the rains have come to an end for Flores…

Watch Flores’ grand slam here:

Flores is hitting .250/.296/.454 this season with six home runs and 15 RBI in 32 games in 2015. His six home runs and .454 slugging percentage lead the team, and he’s tied with Michael Cuddyer for second on the team in RBI.