Mickey Callaway could only protect Robinson Cano for so long.
The Mets manager benched the veteran second baseman Monday, in part for not running out ground balls twice in three games over the weekend.
But Cano still heard boos from the crowd at Citi Field when he was introduced as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning. He quickly turned the boos into cheers when he hustled out a double in the Mets’ 5-3 win over the Nationals.
Cano went from home to second in 8.43 seconds, his fastest double since 2016, according to Statcast.
“It should have been,” Callaway said with a chuckle. “It better have been. … I guess he got the hint.”
Callaway had outlined a three-pronged explanation for not starting Cano. The Mets were facing a lefty in Patrick Corbin — Cano was hitting .133 with no extra-base hits against southpaws — and he also “needed a day off,” Callaway said, with the club playing 20 games in 20 days. Plus, there was his repeated lack of hustle in Miami.
Callaway said he and bench coach Jim Riggleman notified Cano of the decision Sunday night. But Cano said failing to run out the ground balls in Miami was not specifically brought up in the conversation.
“We didn’t get into that detail,” Cano said before the game. “That’s something that, I accept my mistake. [I] made that error. I apologized and I’m going to keep doing the leader role and lead by example.”
Callaway had defended Cano in Miami, and declined to bench him for the gaffes, but spoke a different tune on Monday.
“He understands that it’s unacceptable to [not] run balls out,” Callaway said. “He understands he needs to do that at all times, as do all of our players. That’s just something we expect.”
Cano hit a comebacker to the pitcher Friday and did not run to first, believing there were two outs and blaming the scoreboard for the misinformation. On Sunday, he hit a squibber that bounced behind the plate before rolling fair. He did not run again, thinking it was a foul ball.
“You’re always going to [have] regrets when you make mistakes like that,” Cano said. “Those are stuff that are not supposed to happen. I apologized to the manager. Things happen in the game, sometimes it’s just the reaction to the game, but there’s no excuses for that.”
Cano has struggled in his first season with the Mets after he was part of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s blockbuster trade with the Mariners over the offseason. The 36-year-old, to whom the Mets committed five years and $60 million, entered Monday batting .245 with a .667 OPS.
Van Wagenen, Cano’s former agent, said he has “no regrets from this offseason.”
“I think Robinson Cano has health, he has talent and he has a burning desire to be great,” Van Wagenen said. “I think those are characteristics that we look for in our clubhouse from all players, and I think he possesses those in spades.”