Mets' Iglesias after crucial gaffe: “I don't think the game treated me fairly”

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jose Iglesias transformed the Mets' season after spending nearly a year and a half in the minor leagues.

His personality and Latin-pop songwriting helped pull the Mets out of their early funk, and he dove headfirst into a starring role in New York's return to the postseason.

Iglesias hit first base with his left hand in front of pitcher Joel Payamps' foot and hit a two-out infield single as the game-winning run scored, sparking a five-run rally in the fifth inning that clinched the win Mets defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 8-4 in their NL Wild Card Series opener on Tuesday night.

“What can I say? I don’t think the game treated me fairly,” Iglesias said. “But I got this opportunity. Everything that is in the past is in the past. I'm here today to help this great organization, to help this great team that we have, and I'm happy about it. And I’m grabbing this opportunity with both hands and I won’t let it pass me by.”

The 34-year-old Iglesias previously played for Boston (2011-13) and Detroit (2013-18). He missed the 2014 season with stress fractures in both shins, but became an All-Star in 2015.

After stints with Cincinnati (2019), Baltimore (2020), the Los Angeles Angels (2021), Red Sox (2021) and Colorado (2022), he only received a minor league contract with the Marlins for 2023 and was released in April . He spent 28 games with the Triple-A El Paso farm team in San Diego and then started this year at Triple-A Syracuse with the Mets.

He was called up to New York on May 31 at 23-33. Taking advantage of playing time at second base, Iglesias posted a .337 batting average with four home runs and 26 RBIs. The hit “OMG,” which he performs with Candelita, became a symbol of the Mets' season and sparked a sign that every home run hitter poses next to in the dugout. He even performed It lives at Citi Field after a June 28 win over Houston.

With two ons and two outs in the fifth inning against the Brewers, Iglesias singled to first baseman Rhys Hopkins, who used a tumbling snag to prevent the ball from reaching the outfield and then delivered an underhand flip to Payamps, who rushed to base.

“I thought maybe it was a little closer to the pocket there,” Payamps said through a translator. “I reacted too late.”

As he beat Payamps on base, Iglesias jumped up and hit his chest four times as Tyrone Taylor came home from second to tie the score at 4-4.

“I thought it was from him,” Iglesias said, “and then when I heard everyone screaming, I thought, 'Oh, he got it.' And then it was like, just find a way to be safe.”

Payamps blamed himself for not making it on time.

“It’s a routine play that I didn’t execute,” he said. “It kind of went downhill from there.”

Brandon Nimmo's infield single off Aaron Ashby loaded the bases, and Mark Vientos hit a two-run single for a 6-4 lead. Pete Alonso was intentionally walked, and pinch-hitter JD Martinez followed with another two-run single.

“We put the ball in play when we needed it,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We ran the bases well. We put pressure on them. The hustle of Iglesias there and then Taylor not stopping and just scoring on that play.”

Iglesias recalled the camaraderie he developed with Vientos in the minors earlier this season.

“We get to share a lot of moments down there and it pays off,” Iglesias said. “It doesn't show up in the analytics – or in numbers that you can't see, but it shows up as a team, as a group, the energy, the chemistry and the courage that this team has and the culture that we have “New construction is underway here.”

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