Mets’ Javy Baez apologizes for thumbs-down jab, then scores game-winning run

NEW YORK — Javier Báez and Francisco Lindor have apologized to Mets fans after Báez revealed that a thumbs-down celebration gesture adopted by players was in part a dig at New York fans who have booed the underperforming ballclub.

Báez and Lindor took turns saying they were sorry less than an hour before first pitch of a game Tuesday against the Miami Marlins. That followed a stern statement from team president Sandy Alderson on Sunday night disavowing the gesture, as well as a team meeting Tuesday in which players said they would stop making it.

“I didn’t mean to offend anybody,” Báez said.

The 28-year-old Báez was acquired from the Cubs on July 30 and has hit .210 with four homers and a .709 OPS in 17 games since. Mets fans booed him and others throughout August, when the team has gone 8-19 to fall out of playoff position after leading the NL East for nearly three months.

Players began making the thumbs-down gesture toward their dugout after base hits and other positive plays while at Dodger Stadium from Aug. 20-22.

“When we don’t get success, we’re going to get booed,” Báez said Sunday. “So they’re going to get booed when we have success.”

Lindor and manager Luis Rojas said Tuesday they believe Báez — whose first language is Spanish but doesn’t use an interpreter when speaking to media — misspoke when he said Mets players were booing the fans.

“I didn’t say the fans are bad, I love the fans, but like, I just felt like we were alone,” Báez said Tuesday. “The fans obviously want to win, and they pay our salary like everybody says, but like, we want to win, too, and the frustration got to us. And, you know, I didn’t mean to offend anybody, and if I offend anybody, we apologize.”

Lindor also said the gesture was not explicitly about fans.

“Thumbs-down for me means adversity, the adversity we have gone through in this whole time,” Lindor said. “Like the negative things, we overcome it, so it’s like, ‘We did it! We went over it!’

“However, it was wrong, and I apologize to whoever I offended. It was not my intent to offend people.”

Báez and Lindor spoke to reporters in front of the Mets’ dugout. Lindor was booed by a few fans when he emerged, and two young boys held up thumbs-down signals behind him while he spoke.

Lindor was booed before his first at-bat and again after laying down a successful sacrifice bunt. Báez was not in the lineup for the resumption of a game postponed by rain on April 11.

A four-time All-Star, Lindor was acquired from Cleveland over the offseason in the first major move for the team since Steve Cohen purchased the franchise. Lindor signed a $341 million, 10-year deal to remain in New York, but he has been jeered often during a season in which he is hitting .224 with 11 homers and a .686 OPS.

He was hopeful the gesture wouldn’t spoil his relationship with the fan base he is committed to through 2031.

“I hope this doesn’t stick around because it wasn’t meant to offend anybody, to disrespect nobody,” he said. “This is just a time of trying to pick each other up. We’re going through a rough time, and it was a gesture to pick each other up.”

Báez also started to make amends by scoring the winning run in Tuesday’s 6-5 victory against the Marlins. He sprinted home from first for the game-ending run on Michael Conforto’s single, earning cheers from the fans.

In the resumption of a game suspended by rain April 11, the Mets scored five runs in the final inning and won it when Báez scored following a Marlins error.