METS CUT DOWN
In deGrom-Kershaw battle, it’s Dodger OF that shows off arms:
DODGERS 9 METS 5
LOS ANGELES – What a meltdown.
After Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw brought the noise and concluded a pitching duel fans from coastto-coast were promised, the Mets bullpen could not hold a lead and unveiled one of its worst implo- sions of the year, all as Cody Bellinger’s mythical power arm halted the Mets from staging another comeback.
Just two batters after deGrom’s exit, righthander Tyler Bashlor gave up the tying run on a homer to Chris Taylor in the sixth. He gave up two more singles before Mickey Callaway had seen enough. But options in the Mets pen were far from an improvement.
Southpaw Daniel Zamora retired just one of the six batters he faced, and even that sacrifice flyout scored a run. In a sixth inning that began with a teetering lead, Wilmer Font was called upon for mop-up relief to eventually end a frame that spelled the Mets’ 9-5 loss to the Dodgers on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
“The thing that changed the game, that won the game for them, was getting Jacob out of the game after five innings and making us go to our pen earlier than we wanted to,” Callaway said. Entering Monday, the Mets’ last five victories had been come-from-behind, including four last at-bat wins. The Mets are tied for eighth in the majors with 12 come-frombehind wins and lead the league with nine last at-bat victories. They had another chance in the eighth inning after Adeiny Hechavarria blasted his third homer in four days and
trimmed the Dodgers’ lead to 8-5.
J.D. Davis dug into the box with a hot bat and the bases loaded on one out against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen. He flew out to right fielder Cody Bellinger – a man the Mets would be wise not to run against. Bellinger unloaded on a throw to third base to nail Carlos Gomez, who was tagged out before Tomas Nido touched home plate. It was a 9-5 putout that personified exactly how well-balanced this Dodgers team is.
“Gomez is an aggressive baserunner,” Callaway said. “He’s been doing this for years. We don’t have a problem with him going there, it was just an unbelievable throw. You’re going to see that on highlights for the next 30 years. They’re going to be playing that over and over. It’s kind of like one of those plays Vlad (Guerrero) made 20 years ago.”
Gomez had no regrets about attempting to take third on Davis’ sacrifice fly. As an outfielder, he said he knows how difficult it is to make a perfect throw from right field to the hot corner.
“For me, if I’m on second again, I go to third, 100 times,” Gomez said.
Monday marked just the third time deGrom and Kershaw started against each other, including the postseason. They memorably faced off in Game One of the 2015 NLDS at Dodger Stadium, where deGrom then earned the win, working seven shutout innings with 13 strikeouts while Kershaw took the loss, allowing three earned runs in 6.2 innings with 11 strikeouts.
Nearly four years later, deGrom was a less effective starter on the hill. The righthander didn’t have his best arsenal, but still managed to keep the Mets in the game. He held the league’s second-best offense to two runs on seven hits with one walk and two strikeouts over five innings and 105 pitches.
“It’s a good lineup. I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff tonight but we were able to battle. Unfortunately we weren’t able to win the game,” deGrom said.
DeGrom had only one shutdown inning in the series opener, a 1-2-3 fourth against the bottom of the Dodgers order.
The Mets reached base in five of their six innings against Kershaw. The key was getting to him early – they scored off the three-time Cy Young winner in the first using a walk and three hits. Then Davis let it rip for a two-run bomb in the fifth.
“When you swing the bats like they do and you play great defense and Kershaw’s on the mound, they’re going to be tough to beat,” Callaway said.