After losing on a Curtis Granderson walk-off home run Friday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets squared off in a rematch between Kenta Maeda and Noah Syndergaard.
Chase Utley was called out on strikes to open the game, much to the delight of the Citi Field crowd. Corey Seager followed with a base hit, and after Justin Turner struck out swinging, Adrian Gonzalez kept the inning alive with a single.
The inning came to an end on Trayce Thompson’s grounder. Maeda erased a Granderson leadoff single in the bottom of the first by getting Asdrubal Cabrera to ground into a 3-6-3 double. Michael Conforto then reached on a line drive that hit off Maeda’s throwing hand.
He was checked on by the training staff and remained in the game after throwing a few practice tosses. Yoenis Cespedes rolled a grounder over to Seager for the third out in a scoreless first inning.
Syndergaard retired the side in order in the second inning, picking up his third strikeout of the game in the process. Maeda worked around a two-out walk in the bottom of the second to keep the game locked in a scoreless tie.
The long-anticipated fireworks between the Mets and Utley surfaced in the third, with Syndergaard throwing behind the veteran infielder. Syndergaard was immediately rejected, and so too was Mets manager Terry Collins, who rushed out of the dugout to argue his pitcher’s ejection.
Logan Verrett took over and struck out Utley and Seager to end the third. Maeda continued to show no lingering effects of being hit on the hand as he threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the third inning.
Turner led off the fourth with a double to left-center field, and he advanced to third base on a Gonzalez grounder to the right side. Turner was then caught in a rundown on a comebacker for the second out and Joc Pederson lined into the shift to end the inning.
CONTINUE READING: Utley connects for grand slam
