It took seven games for Citi Field to reject Jose Siri.
The Mets’ platoon center fielder, who missed most of the season with a broken leg and made his seventh home appearance Friday (and just his second start in Queens since April), was booed often in a 12-6 Mets victory over the Nationals because of a couple misplays and few rough at-bats.
“He didn’t have a good day,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Siri, with whom he talked because he wanted Siri to keep his head up.
During a dreadful, four-run third inning, which also featured a poor throw from Brandon Sproat to first base that wound up in right field, where Juan Soto did not back up, Siri misplayed two consecutive batted balls in different ways, neither resulting in an error.
With two outs and a runner on second base, Josh Bell scalded a line drive to left-center that Siri did well to reach. He extended his arm, opened his glove and watched the ball pop in and out for what was ruled an RBI double.
“He went a long way for that ball, got there and dropped it,” Mendoza said of Siri, whom the Mets declined to make available to media after the game.
Three pitches later, Daylen Lile smacked a hit into right-center that might have been a single if played well. But Siri tried to cut it off too soon and watched the ball zoom past him and all the way to the wall for what was ruled as an RBI triple.
“Poor route,” Mendoza said of Siri, who then became a target of the crowd.
Siri fills out the tool kit with excellent speed, power and a cannon for a throwing arm. But Friday he struggled with defensive fundamentals and for his career he has struggled to make consistent contact offensively.
Siri may still be seeking his best swing after fracturing his tibia in April and getting activated last week after eight rehab games. In four games back, Siri has gone 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts.
After the rough third inning, he was booed in each ensuing at-bats, including a fourth-inning strikeout that began with a pitch-clock violation against him.
“I know it could get hard, right?” Mendoza said of his conversation with Siri. “But I think not putting your head down and keep competing — that was pretty much my messaging to him.”
The righty-hitting Siri was starting because the Nationals started a lefty in Andrew Alvarez, while the lefty-hitting Cedric Mullins — who began his Mets tenure roughly but has shown signs of breaking out — has become Mendoza’s pick against righties.
Mullins himself has heard boos in Queens but received a loud round of applause when pinch-hitting in the eighth because he was forcing Siri from the game. Mullins struck out.
Center field has been a black hole for the Mets, who do not want to play Jeff McNeil there regularly and who soon will have Tyrone Taylor as an option, the veteran beginning a rehab assignment Friday.
