The Mets took on the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night at Citi Field in the second game of their three-game series. Jacob deGrom was on the mound for the Mets against Tyler Anderson for Los Angeles. Behind a gem from deGrom and an incredible home run robbing catch from Brandon Nimmo, the Mets defeated the Dodgers 2-1.

Facing the best offense in baseball did not stop deGrom from his usual dominance to start the game. He allowed a rare walk to Trea Turner in the first inning, but escaped the inning after striking out Freddie Freeman and Will Smith to strand Turner. After allowing the walk, deGrom retired the side in order in the second and third, including strikeouts of two former MVPs in Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts.

In the bottom of the third, the top of the Mets’ order put together a two-out rally to open the scoring. Brandon Nimmo singled to left field before Starling Marte homered to center to put the Mets ahead 2-0. Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso followed with back-to-back singles, but they were left on base when Darin Ruf flew out to right to end the inning.

Working with a lead, deGrom continued to mow down Dodger hitters. He retired the side in order in the fourth inning, including another strikeout of Smith, to increase his streak to 11 consecutive batters retired.

The no-hit bid ended with one out in the fifth inning when Justin Turner hit a ground ball that was just barely out of reach of a diving Lindor. Despite his bid for history being gone, he was able to bounce back and retire the next two hitters to get through five scoreless innings.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Dodgers were able to break through thanks to Betts. With one out, Betts turned on a hanging slider and sent it over the wall in left field to cut the Mets’ lead to 2-1. Freeman reached on a two-out single and stole second, but deGrom won a long battle with Smith to end the inning with the lead intact.

The Dodgers nearly tied the game in the seventh, but Nimmo made one of the best catches of the year to preserve the lead. Justin Turner hit a 100 mph fastball from deGrom to deep center field that appeared to have the distance to clear the wall. Running at full speed, Nimmo made a leaping catch and brought the ball back to rob Turner of the game-tying home run. DeGrom followed the sensational catch by striking out Gavin Lux to get through seven innings for the first time in 2022.

In his seven innings of work, deGrom allowed one run on three hits and a walk while striking out nine Dodgers. It was the 100th time in his 204 career starts that deGrom allowed one or no runs, the most of any pitcher through 204 starts in MLB history.

After making the greatest catch of his career, Nimmo had a chance to add to the Mets’ lead in the bottom of the inning. Tomas Nido hit a two-out double to bring Nimmo up with a runner in scoring position. He took a borderline 2-2 pitch that was called for strike three to end the inning and strand Nido.

With deGrom done for the night, the Mets turned to Adam Ottavino in the eighth. He made quick work of Joey Gallo and Bellinger, but retiring Betts, the hottest hitter on the planet, was a much more difficult task. Betts fouled off a couple of tough pitches before working the count full, but Ottavino went with his slider on the 3-2 pitch and got Betts to reach for it for strike three.

The Mets took their 2-1 lead into the ninth, and with Timmy Trumpet in the building for a live performance of Narco, Buck Showalter gave the ball to Edwin Diaz to close out the game. Diaz struck out Trea Turner on three straight sliders and retired Freeman and Smith on ground outs to close out the win for the Mets.

With the win, the Mets improved to 83-48. It is just the second time in Mets history that the team won 83 games before September, joining the 1986 Mets.

Player of the Game: Brandon Nimmo

Nimmo had an exceptional night on both sides of the ball on Wednesday night. His two-out single against the tough left-hander in Anderson gave Marte the chance to drive in the Mets’ two runs with his third inning home run. He finished the night going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Despite his strong game with the bat, his biggest impact in the game was easily the homer he robbed from Justin Turner to preserve the one-run lead. The catch was a massive momentum swing in the Mets’ direction when it happened, and with the game finishing with that 2-1 score standing, not much needs to be said about the impact the catch had on the win.

On Deck

The Mets will look to take the three-game series with the Dodgers when they play the rubber match on Thursday at 4:10 p.m. ET. Chris Bassitt (11-7, 3.34 ERA) will start for the Mets against Clayton Kershaw (7-3, 2.64 ERA) for the Dodgers.

Kershaw will be making his first start since being placed on the injured list nearly a month ago. The future Hall of Famer was placed on the IL with lower back pain after his start on August 4 against the Giants.

The game will be broadcast on SNY, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.