It was as advertised. A pitchers duel of near-epic proportions. It did not disappoint.

As game time approached, the New York Mets looked up at the scoreboard and saw that the Chicago Cubs won. A loss would have dropped the Mets four games behind Chicago (80-68) for the second wild card. But the resilient Mets did not let that happen as they rode the bat of a 38-year old pinch hitter and the brilliant pitching of their ace to an exciting 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. (box score)

Jacob deGrom started for the Mets (77-71) and was nothing short of brilliant. Jake leads the NL with a 2.20 ERA since May 22 and has a 1.69 ERA since the All-Star break. After seven shut out innings, his season’s ERA is now 2.61. He kept the Mets in the game as Dodger starter Hyun-Jin Ryu was equally impressive yielding only two hits.

For seven innings, Ryu and deGrom showed the baseball world what elite pitching is like. They gave up only five hits between them. In the end, the bullpens took over and it was a combination of hit batsmen and a clutch double by Rajai Davis with the bases loaded to lead the Mets to victory.

It broke a nine-game winning streak the Dodgers (96-54) had at Citi Field. It was only the sixth time the Dodgers, who lead the National League in team hitting, have been shut-out. It was the Mets 11th shut-out victory of the year.

In other scores involving the NL wild card, the Milwaukee Brewers (79-69) defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 to stay one game behind the Cubs for the second Wild Card spot. Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal went deep for the Brewers. The Boston Red Sox scored a ninth-inning run on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Benintendi to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1. The Mets are now a 1/2 game ahead of the Phillies (76-71).

Pitching

Jacob deGrom made his 30th start of the year on Saturday for New York. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning to start things off in the first with three ground ball outs.

In the second, Jake ran into a little trouble as MVP candidate Cody Bellinger led off with a sharp single to right. One batter later, A.J.Pollock was hit by a pitch to put two men on base. But has been deGrom’s custom when he gets into trouble, he bears down and gets out of it. He struck out Gavin Lux and got Russell Martin to pop-out to end the threat.

DeGrom was getting into a zone as he retired 11 straight batters, retiring the Dodgers in order in innings three, four and five. He struck out five through the first half of the game.

In the seventh inning, deGrom retired the first two batters, making it 16 consecutive Dodger set down by Jacob. But then the Dodgers attempted a two-out rally with singles by Corey Seager and Pollock. But again, the gritty deGrom wouldn’t yield as he struck out Lux for the third time to retire the side.

The seventh inning was the last for deGrom. He was brilliant as his final line was: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 101 pitches. He now has a 2.61 ERA which is the third-lowest in the National League. It was the 78th time in 169 starts that deGrom has allowed one run or fewer.

This season, Jake has 17 starts of 7+ innings which leads the NL. In 15 of those starts, he has allowed two or fewer runs. Remarkable.

Seth Lugo came in to pitch the eighth. He struck out the side in a strong inning.

Justin Wilson entered in the ninth to try for his third save and retired the Dodgers in order for the important win.

Offense

The Mets managed 3 hits against the Dodgers on Saturday.

Through the first four innings of the game, the Mets didn’t generate much against Ryu. Robinson Cano singled in the second and Amed Rosario singled in the third and that was it in the first four frames.

After retiring the Mets in the sixth, Ryu had set down ten Mets in a row.

Ryu retired the Mets in order in the seventh. It was Ryu’s final inning of the night. He now has a lifetime 1.20 ERA against the Mets and a 2.35 ERA for the season to lead the NL. He allowed only two hits on the night.

In a thrilling inning, the Mets broke through in the eighth to take the lead. With one out, Todd Frazier was hit by a Joe Kelly fastball. One batter later, Julio Urias came in to pitch for the Dodgers and hit Brandon Nimmo. He then walked Amed Rosario to load the bases. Rajai Davis pinch-hit and with two strikes, lined a double to left to clear the bases and give the Mets a 3-0 lead. It was Davis’ second double of the year. He now has seven RBIs.

On Deck

The Mets will try to take the series from the Dodgers Sunday evening. Zack Wheeler (11-7, 4.21 ERA) takes the ball for New York. Wheeler is coming off a strong start against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday where he allowed only one run on seven hits. He has given up only one run in each of his last three outings and has a 1.50 ERA in those starts, all Mets wins. The Mets are 7-2 in Wheeler’s last nine starts.

Walker Buehler (13-3, 3.14 ERA) pitches for the Dodgers. Buehler is the Dodger’s hottest pitcher, winner of his last three starts. On Tuesday, he twirled a gem against the Baltimore Orioles pitching seven scoreless innings, striking out 11. He has 201 Ks for the year, the first time in his brief career he has exceeded 200 strikeouts. The Dodgers clinched their seventh straight NL West title in Buehler’s last outing.

The game will be nationally televised by ESPN and locally broadcast on WCBS-880 AM. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.