Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets sent Rich Hill to the mound Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles to pitch for only his sixth game as a Met after being traded from the Tampa Bay Rays last month.

The 41-year-old’s regular season numbers for the Rays didn’t stand out too much, but the one thing the Mets possibly saw coming out of this trade was a seasoned playoff veteran pitcher. He has an extensive playoff history and pitching styles that vary from the rest of the bullpen. This could be a great thing for this New York team but so far, his performance this season has been nothing extraordinary. His stats showed exactly that: a 4.98 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP.

Hill did a fine job in the Saturday’s game against his former team, but being seven games behind the Atlanta Braves, the NL East leader and two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, makes each game and each win so much more important.

To start the game, Hill gave up a leadoff home run to Trea Turner. This was Turner’s first home run for the Dodgers after being traded from the Nationals last month. Max Muncy had a fly out to give the Dodgers their first out of the inning. Albert Pujols then hit a bomb to center field for a solo home run. This was his first home run hit off of Rich Hill since Aug. 17, 2007 and he now has 677 career home runs. AJ Pollock had a fly out and Corey Seager ground out, but it was Dodgers 2-0 after the first inning.

Hill began the second inning strong with Chris Taylor hitting a shallow infield bunt for a ground out. Will Smith then hit a bloop single to right center field and two fly outs by Cody Bellinger and Max Scherzer ended the inning.

The top of the Dodgers order came back around, and Hill recorded his first 1-2-3 inning of the day in the third. It started with a foul territory fly out from Turner, then Muncy struck out swinging on a 70-mph slider and Albert Pujols grounded out softly to end the inning.

In the fourth inning, Pollock hit a sharp line drive single to left field, but Seager grounded into a double play. Chris Taylor then hit a solo home run to center field to make it 3-0 Dodgers, but Will Smith struck out swinging on an 81-mph changeup to end the damage.

In Hill’s final inning of the game, Bellinger and ex-Met Billy McKinney had back-to-back right field fly outs. Trea Turner singled on a sharp ground ball to left field and Max Muncy ground into a force out.

Hill was taken off the mound after the fifth inning, leaving the Mets to bring in relief pitchers for the rest of the ballgame. Miguel Castro started the sixth inning and gave up a run, Jeurys Familia was then brought in to replace Castro to close out the sixth inning. Aaron Loup pitched the seventh, and Seth Lugo pitched the eighth.

Hill’s final line: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Final score: Dodgers 4-3