L.A. RUBBIN’ IT IN
Mets ripped again by showboating Puig, Dodgers
LOS ANGELES — Yasiel Puig got under the Mets’ skin Wednesday night, maybe the first evidence in this series that anybody wearing a visiting uniform still has a pulse.
But that was that. Puig, who had showboated on a mammoth home run he hit against Tyler Pill in the fourth inning, returned to the Dodgers dugout, and the Mets resumed as a collection of zombies.
In another listless performance, the Mets lost their third straight, 8-1 at Dodger Stadium, to fall a seasonworst nine games below .500.
Pill, a soft-tossing rookie making his third career major league start, was competitive early, but couldn’t handle this powerful Dodgers lineup the second and third time through the batting order. The loss was the sixth in seven games for the Mets, who before the first pitch placed Zack Wheeler on the disabled list with tendonitis in his right biceps.
Puig took 32 seconds to round the bases after crushing a shot into the left-field pavilion area in the fourth inning for a three-run homer. Along the way, the volatile Dodgers outfielder jawed with Wilmer Flores and Travis d’Arnaud. And between innings, TV cameras caught Yoenis Cespedes and Jose Reyes lecturing Puig, who had appeared upset a night earlier following an up-and-in fastball from Robert Gsellman.
Nevertheless, the Mets have bigger problems than Puig. Not only is their starting rotation in shambles, but the lineup has mellowed since hitting four homers against Clayton Kershaw in a loss to the Dodgers on Monday. After getting shut out Tuesday, the Mets’ offense a night later consisted of Curtis Granderson’s homer leading off the game against Rich Hill and his RBI double in the ninth.
Steven Matz will try to prevent the Mets from getting swept four games in the series when he takes the mound Thursday for his third start since returning from the disabled list, where he spent the first two-plus months of the season.
The six runs allowed by Pill (0-3) actually represented progress after Wheeler and Gsellman were hammered for seven and eight runs, respectively, the previous two nights.
Yasmani Grandal’s solo homer in the sixth was the final notch against Pill, who surrendered six runs, one unearned, on five hits and three walks over six innings. Grandal hit another blast in the eighth, against Neil Ramirez, giving the Dodgers 12 homers in the three games. Five of those homers were hit the previous night.
Cody Bellinger doubled leading off the fourth for the Dodgers’ first hit. Logan Forsythe’s ensuing double gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead before Puig hit his titanic blast over the left-field fence for his 13th homer.
The Mets wasted a chance in the top of the fourth, when they loaded the bases with nobody out before Hill (4-3) struck out Reyes, Gavin Cecchini and Pill in succession to keep it 1-1.
The Dodgers scored an unearned run in the second on Hill’s sacrifice fly following T.J. Rivera’s throwing error. Joc Pederson walked leading off the inning and went to third as Rivera, at third base, bounced a throw past Flores at first.
Granderson homered leading off the game to give the Mets their first lead in the series. The leadoff homer was Granderson’s 19th with the Mets — tying him with Reyes for the franchise record.
Granderson’s insertion into the starting lineup in center field kept Michael Conforto on the bench against the soft-tossing lefty Hill.