The Dodgers Bullpen Sinks Mets in 4-2 Thriller
The Dodgers bullpen proved too much for the Mets, surrendering a go-ahead run and an insurance two-run homer to seal a 4-2 win in the series opener at Citi Field on Friday night.
Luis Robert Jr. opened the scoring for the Dodgers with his fourth homer of the season, crushing a 2-2 fastball 381 feet to left. The towering outfielder had been showcasing himself ahead of the trade deadline, and this was his second homer in three games since returning from the injured list.
Sean Manaea did well to limit the high-powered Dodgers offense, working around leadoff baserunners in two of the first three innings. He erased a single in the first and put together a perfect top of the second, before breezing past a double against the top of the order in the third.
The Mets evened things up with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but stranded two more on the corners. Manaea almost faced another leadoff man in scoring position, but the Mets used a perfect relay to gun Shohei Ohtani down trying to stretch a double into a triple.
Manaea was hurt, then helped by his defense in the sixth. A Carson Benge bobble in right allowed Freddie Freeman to advance to second on a single and an error, but the youngster made up for it two batters later, as he gunned the veteran down trying to score from third on a sacrifice fly.
Manaea ended his day allowing just the one run on six hits and two walks while striking out three over 6.0 IP.
The lefties in the Mets' bullpen immediately wasted Manaea's strong effort. Brooks Raley allowed LA to scratch across the go-ahead run on an Ohtani sacrifice fly, then A.J. Minter served up an insurance two-run homer to Kyle Tucker an inning later, to make it a three-run ballgame.
New York wasn't able to get much else going against LA starter Roki Sasaki, as aside from the Robert homer he held them to four other baserunners while striking out nine batters across 6.0 innings of work. Sasaki came into the night with 23 runs allowed (22 earned) over his last six starts.
The Mets did show some fight against right-hander Evan Phillips in the bottom of the eighth, as Francisco Alvarez crushed his 14th homer of the season. The solo shot left the bat at a whopping 108.9 mph and traveled a total of 401 feet deep into the left field seats.
They couldn't rally against Tanner Scott in the ninth, though, and dropped the series opener.
New York suffered a big blow midway through this one, as Juan Soto was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth due to left calf soreness. The outfielder has been limited to DH duties since the All-Star break, and he sat out Wednesday's series finale in Milwaukee.
Game MVP was Kyle Tucker, whose eighth inning two-run homer ended up being the difference in this one.
The Dodgers will look to continue their momentum as they face the Mets again on Saturday night. Nolan McLean will take the ball against Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the middle game, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
Source: Yahoo Sports