The New York Mets welcomed the Los Angeles Dodgers into Citi Field Friday night for their first game of a three-game, weekend set in Queens. The Mets have now lost 10 games in a row to the Dodgers after falling 5-2.
Tonight’s starter, Zack Wheeler, began the evening with a 4.82 earned-run average (3.65 ERA over his last four outings) and a 2.57 strikeout-to-walk ratio (on pace to be a career-high) in thirteen starts this season.
Pitching
Wheeler notched four strikeouts over his first two (perfect) innings, consistently hitting 97-98 MPH with his fastball.
Enrique Hernandez singled to right to begin the third. Wheeler balked Hernandez over to third with two outs before Michael Conforto made an incredible leaping grab in left-center field to rob Pederson of an extra-base hit and keep a run off of the board.
After allowing a leadoff walk and a base hit to former Met Justin Turner to start the fourth, Wheeler set down Matt Kemp, Cody Bellinger, and Yasiel Puig in order to escape the jam.
He set down the Dodgers in order in the fifth but gave up back-to-back walks to start the sixth.
Brandon Nimmo then made a terrific diving catch in left to retire Turner, and Kemp blooped a single to right, loading the bases with one out for Cody Bellinger.
Bellinger crushed a grand slam into the Coca-Cola seats to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Hernandez lined out to Bautista, who doubled up Puig at first (single) to end the inning.
Wheeler came back out for the seventh at just under 100 pitches and struck out Austin Barnes, induced a Logan Forsythe groundout, and retired Joc Pederson on a long fly ball to left.
Wheeler’s final line was seven innings pitched, allowing four earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and three bases-on-balls (114 pitches, 72 strikes), and his earned-run average jumped up a tick to 4.85.
Anthony Swarzak pitched a perfect eighth, needing only seven pitches to set down the Dodgers, then Jerry Blevins retired Bellinger to start the ninth.
Chris Beck came in to make his Citi Field debut with one out in the ninth and immediately gave up a solo homer to Puig, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2. He then set down Hernandez and Barnes to end the frame.
Offense
Wilmer Flores led off the second with a single to right to for the Mets’ first hit of the game. Conforto grounded into a fielder’s choice, Jose Bautista lined a single to center, then Devin Mesoraco walked to load the bases.
Turner made a very nice play on an Amed Rosario grounder to third and got Conforto at the plate, then Wood struck out Wheeler to end the frame.
The Mets went down in order in the third and fourth before Mesoraco led off the fifth with an infield single and Rosario blooped a single into shallow right, but they weren’t able to capitalize (Wheeler and Nimmo struck out, Frazier grounded out).
Down 4-0 in the sixth after Bellinger’s grand slam in the top half of the frame, the Mets finally put a couple of runs on the board.
Conforto lined a two-out single to left, and Jose Bautista blasted a two-run homer (his first as a Met) into the seats in left field to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half.
Jose Reyes, pinch-hitting for Wheeler, laced a base hit to right (6-for-18 in June) with one out in the seventh but was left stranded on second.
Cabrera, leading off in the eighth, hit a ball into the hole at shortstop that Hernandez couldn’t handle, bringing the tying run to the plate for the Mets.
With one out, Conforto hit a slow grounder to second that was bobbled by Muncy, and Cabrera advanced to an empty third base, giving the Mets runners at the corners with one out. Bautista then grounded into a 6-4-3 double play on the first pitch he saw to leave the tying runs on base.
Kenley Jansen retired Mesoraco, Rosario, and Dominic Smith to end the game and send the Mets to their fifteenth loss this month and 23rd loss in their last 30 games.
On Deck
The Mets will send Jacob deGrom (5-2, 1.51 ERA) to the mound to face the Dodgers with Clayton Kershaw (1-4, 2.76 ERA) on the bump for Los Angeles. It will be Kershaw’s first start since May 31 (lower back).
The game is at 7:15 p.m. ET and will be televised on FOX and broadcast on 710 WWOR.
