The New York Mets (28-21) were defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers (27-24) by a score of 4-2 at Citi Field on Sunday evening. The Dodgers took the series and rubber game forcing the Mets to fall one game behind the Nats for the division lead.
Pitching:
Bartolo Colon was on his game tonight and gave the Mets exactly what they needed. Colon went six innings, allowing two runs, walked one, and struck out three. The big fella kept the Mets in the game with a reasonable chance facing the best pitcher on the planet.
Antonio Bastardo recovered from a tough outing to pitch a scoreless seventh.
Addison Reed came in to pitch a scoreless eighth. Reed has really been excellent for the Mets in the setup role all year.
Jeurys Familia was awful for the second time this series. Familia just did not have it tonight and could barely find the strike zone. Familia walked two and gave up two hits to give the lead right back to the Dodgers. The Dodgers scored two runs to give them a 4-2 lead in the ninth.
Offense:
Clayton Kershaw completely shut the Mets offense down for most of the night. Kershaw went 7.2 innings, but was removed in the middle of an inning for the first time this year.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Asdrubal Cabrera hit a solo home run to cut the Dodgers lead to 2-1.
The Mets could only muster 4 hits against Kershaw on the night but the 4th hit would be the most damaging.
Kevin Plawecki lead off the bottom of the eighth inning with a lead off single. After retiring Eric Campbell and Michael Conforto, Kershaw was pulled from the game for fellow lefty Adam Liberatore. Curtis Granderson made the Dodgers pay by lacing a triple off the wall to score Plawecki and tie it, his second extra base hit of the night.
Unfortunately, the Mets would not have as much luck in the ninth as Kenley Jansen completely shut them down to record his 15th save.
Notes:
David Wright remained out with a neck issue. Wright received a cortisone shot and is expected to rest for at least a couple of days.
Wilmer Flores was activated tonight after a DL stint. Matt Reynolds was returned to AAA.
On Deck:
The Mets will open up their first game of a three game series with the Chicago White Sox tomorrow afternoon for a Memorial Day matinee at Citi Field. The game has a start time of 1:10 PM. Matt Harvey (3-7, 6.08 ERA) will look to finally get back on track against lefty Jose Quintana (5-4 2.22 ERA). One more bad outing from Harvey and the Mets will likely have to make a roster decision.
