'Absolutely perfect' relay preserves Mets' win

NEW YORK -- When Eric Sogard’s single sliced over second base in the ninth inning on Tuesday, Mets pitcher Seth Lugo initially believed it would be a relatively harmless single. But as the ball skittered toward the right-center-field gap, Lugo realized the danger. His former teammate, Jake Marisnick, was racing around second base as the potential tying run. And so Lugo bolted toward home, prepared to back up home plate.

As it turns out, his services were not needed. Center fielder Kevin Pillar cut the ball off before it could scoot behind him, then fired to cutoff man Luis Guillorme. Showcasing the quick hands that have earned him accolades throughout his time in the Mets organization, Guillorme whirled and threw home in more than enough time for catcher James McCann to cradle the ball, turn and tag out Marisnick to maintain a one-run lead in the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Cubs.

“It was absolutely perfect,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “Hell of a relay by Guillorme. Obviously, great job from Kevin getting to the ball quickly, taking a great route, hitting the cutoff man, and then Mac behind the dish putting the good tag on there. That was just perfectly executed, and we needed that in that spot.”

The Mets entered the ninth inning leading by a run after Lugo had pitched a perfect eighth. Because Lugo did so in such an efficient manner, manager Luis Rojas decided to send him back out for the ninth.

That’s when trouble surfaced. Willson Contreras started things with a one-out single before giving way to Marisnick as a pinch-runner. Sogard came up and followed with a single of his own, which could have given the Cubs runners on the corners with only one out.

Instead, third-base coach Willie Harris -- a former Mets outfielder -- decided to send Marisnick home. Marisnick was still about 10 feet from the plate when McCann caught Guillorme’s relay.

“If he is safe, you are not going to say it was mistake,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “I would say I err on the side of aggressiveness. I think Willie is an aggressive baserunning coach. That’s kind of where I fall. We’ve talked about it. I thought it was a good send. It was a great play by Guillorme. I thought he made one heck of a relay to McCann. One hop. He made it look a lot easier than I think it was.”

Moments later, Lugo struck out Sergio Alcántara to seal the win for the Mets.

“I’m so proud, because we don’t work on these things during the season,” Rojas said. “Cutoffs and relays, we do those things in Spring Training and then they happen in the game. … I’m just happy that the guys maintain the fundamentals the way we did it in practice.”