Saturday’s pitching matchup was certainly one to circle on the MLB calendar as Nolan McLean took the mound for the New York Mets opposite Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers. McLean did his part against the Dodgers’ lineup and allowed only two earned runs. McLean went six innings with seven strikeouts. However, as has been the case this season, more fielding errors led to Dodgers runs in a 4-3 Mets loss. Los Angeles is now 5-0 against the Mets this season, and the Mets fall to 43-62 on the year.

Francisco Lindor by Berto Carlo

Pair of Errors Hurt the Mets in The 3rd Inning.

The Game was scoreless through the first two innings, and Yamamoto and McLean looked to be heading towards a pitchers’ duel. But Kyle Tucker, who came into this series with a batting average of .236 and an OPS of .689, homered off McLean to put the Dodgers on the board. It was his second home run of the series. After McLean struck out Teoscar Hernandez, Dalton Rushing singled, bringing up Shohei Ohtani. Then the mishaps happened again.

Ohtani hit a grounder to first baseman Brett Baty, which should’ve been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Baty took a bad angle and misfired the ball, and it hit Rushing’s helmet as it scattered into the outfield. Rushing advanced to third. It was the Mets’ 70th error of the season. Next up was Andy Pages, who grounded a ball back to Baty, who this time completed his throw to Francisco Lindor, but McLean wasn’t able to get to the first base bag in time to complete what could’ve been another inning-ending double play. Rushing would score.

Freddie Freeman continued the inning with a single that advanced Pages to third base. Then a passed ball by Francisco Alvarez allowed Pages to score. Two unearned runs were allowed after the Tucker home run as part of a three-run inning for the Dodgers. 

More Errors for Baty at a Different Position

It was the first game since early May that Baty saw action at first base. It was also the second error this week by Baty at a position that he’s not familiar with. On Wednesday in a 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Baty, while playing right field, misplayed what could’ve been an inning-ending fly ball that resulted in two Brewers runs to score. Another scored on an RBI single by Christian Yelich one batter later. This was basically three runs due to Baty’s misplay.

Saturday’s error at first base opened the door for a big Dodgers inning and put the Mets in a hole. With the trade deadline approaching, and teams reportedly interested in Baty, the Mets are clearly trying to showcase his versatility to potential suitors. Instead, they might be showing teams Baty’s weaknesses instead of his strengths. Not playing Tyrone Taylor and Jared Young in their natural positions, where Baty was, might’ve cost the Mets these games too.

Tyrone Taylor’s Hot Streak Is Still a Bright Spot

While the Mets again struggled to score with runners in scoring position against Yamamoto and the Dodgers pitching, going 2-for-11, Tyrone Taylor’s hot stretch continued. With runners on first and second and two outs in the eighth inning, and the Dodgers bringing in Tanner Scott, Andy Green went to his bench to pinch hit for Baty. Taylor came to the plate and drilled a two-RBI double down the left field line to cut the Dodgers’ lead to 4-3. It’s Taylor’s 12th hit and 6th RBI in his last 17 games. What the Mets do with Taylor come the trade deadline will be interesting.

On Deck:

The Mets will look to avoid getting swept again by the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon. Freddy Peralta starts for the Mets against Emmet Sheehan. First pitch is at 1:40 pm EDT. The game will be televised locally on SNY and broadcast on WHSQ 880 AM.