Mark Ellis was a one man wrecking crew as the Mets lost to the Dodgers by the score of 7-2 last night at Citi Field. The Dodgers’ second baseman had four hits, two home runs, four RBI and even knocked starter Jon Niese out of the game.
In the top of the third inning, a comebacker struck Niese on his leg sending him to the ground writhing in pain. Niese sat down in the dirt along the first base line and grimaced as the Mets trainer helped him to his feet after a minute or so and exited the field. X-rays were negative and Niese left with a bruise. The Mets said he was day to day.
“We’ll see how it feels tomorrow. But I should be able to throw a bullpen and make my next start,” Niese said.
“I’m glad it’s not as bad as what it could have been,” he added. “Everything kind of locked up down there. I couldn’t move my toes. It was kind of scary at first.”
The Mets scored twice in the third after Clayton Kershaw retired the first two batters. Robert Carson, who took over for Niese, walked in his first big league plate appearance and set up RBI singles by Daniel Murphy and David Wright. But that would be all the scoring for the Mets who had just had four hits, all singles, on the night.
The Dodgers put the game away in the eighth inning after reliever Josh Edgin was tagged for two runs on two singles and two doubles.
One Mets bright spot was when Juan Lagares made his big league debut during a double switch in the fifth inning. The center fielder was promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas earlier in the day and flied out to the warning track against Kershaw in his first at-bat.
Then Lagares singled his next time up for his first big league hit. “When I got to the dugout all of my teammates said congratulations. That, for me, feels good,” he said.
Right-hander Matt Harvey will try to snap the Dodgers’ five game winning streak at Citi Field tonight at 7:10 PM. We’ll be live blogging the game from the press box at Citi and hope you’ll join us.
