Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The primary focus coming out of Wednesday’s Mets-Dodgers game will be the ejection of Max Scherzer, who was tossed in the fourth inning after a substance check from umpires Phil Cuzzi and Dan Bellino. Scherzer could be facing a 10-game suspension from the ejection, pending appeal. Scherzer became only the the third MLB player ejected for foreign substances since the league instituted checks.

However, despite Scherzer’s early exit, the Mets managed to hang on with a 5-3 win over the Dodgers to take their the series in LA thanks to a five-hit game from Brandon Nimmo and some clutch pitching from multiple relievers.

Before his ejection, Scherzer had been settling in nicely after a tough first inning in which he faced a bases-loaded jam and threw 28 pitches. He was able to avoid any damage after getting Miguel Vargas to ground out to end the threat.

The Mets had a few scoring chances early in the game, but Starling Marte grounded into a double play with two men on in the third, and the Mets also left a runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth. Marte would later leave the game with what Buck Showalter described postgame as neck stiffness, and was replaced by Mark Canha.

Following the wild Scherzer ejection, the Mets were forced to turn to a rather depleted bullpen, but got a big boost from Jimmy Yacabonis. Yacobonis allowed a run on a sac fly in the fourth, but fought his way through 2 2/3 innings, allowing only the one run.

The Mets did not trail for long. In the top of the fifth, Nimmo continued his perfect day at the plate with a two-run homer off of old friend Noah Syndergaard to put the Mets up 2-1.

Los Angeles threatened in the bottom of the sixth, but with the tying run in scoring position, recently recalled Jeff Brigham got Vargas to fly out to preserve the lead.  After the Mets left the bases loaded in the top of the frame, Drew Smith came on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, tossing a 1-2-3 inning thanks to some strong defense at third base from Brett Baty.

In the top of the eighth, the Mets added another run to increase the lead to 3-1. After Francisco Lindor led off the inning with a double, he eventually came around to score thanks to a Tommy Pham sacrifice fly.

David Robertson was next to pitch for New York in the bottom of the eighth and allowed his first run in a Mets uniform on an RBI double from J.D. Martinez. However, after a risky strategy from Showalter that saw him put the go-ahead run on base with an intentional walk to Max Muncy, Robertson made the gamble pay off by getting Jason Heyward and Vargas to pop out to end the threat.

With the lead back to only one run, Nimmo collected his fifth hit of the afternoon following a Luis Guillorme walk, which set the stage for Canha to come through with a clutch two-run double.

Adam Ottavino gave up a solo home run to David Peralta in the bottom of the ninth but avoided any other baserunners and finished out the save in the Mets’ 5-3 win. With the victory, the Mets move to 12-7 on the season, and have now won four consecutive series.

Player of the Game

Brandon Nimmo has been playing like an All-Star already early in this season, but Wednesday was his best performance yet. Nimmo went 5-5 from the plate with a two-run homer earning the second 5-hit game of his career. After Wednesday, Nimmo raised his average to .339 on the young season.

While he wasn’t the player of the game, it’s also worth giving a shout out to Francisco Álvarez, who came into the season having only one hit on the season but went 2-4 on the day.

On Deck

The Mets travel to San Francisco on Thursday for a four-game series against the Giants. Among the former Mets they will face off with include Michael Conforto, Wilmer Flores, J.D. Davis, and Darin Ruf.