Deadlocked through six innings, the New York Mets turned the game in the seventh to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-3, snapping their four-game winning streak and spoiling Will Smith’s MLB debut.
The night proved to be another black mark for the Dodgers bullpen as four relief pitchers were needed to get through the seventh inning.
Yimi Garcia was first to relieve Rich Hill, who much like with Clayton Kershaw in the series opener, was forced to pitch through traffic. Hill allowed at least one baserunner in the first four innings and five of six overall.
He managed to keep the Mets off the scoreboard until Steven Matz led off the third inning with a soft infield single. After Amed Rosario’s base hit, J.D. Davis’ fly out allowed Matz to advance to third base. He then scored on a fielder’s choice, beating Justin Turner’s throw to home plate.
The second run Hill allowed came on Todd Frazier’s leadoff homer in the fourth. New York went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and the outing was Hill’s third in a row in which he completed six innings with two earned runs or fewer allowed.
For the Dodgers it was a 14th quality start in the past 15 games. Including Tuesday’s loss, they are
Garcia started the seventh inning by walking Adeiny Hechavarria, and he immediately was replaced by Dylan Floro. A walk and throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt left the bases loaded with nobody out. Floro struck out Davis before giving way to Scott Alexander.
The groundball specialist ironically was stung by the long ball, as Michael Conforto lifted a backbreaking grand slam to the opposite field.
The Dodgers’ offense again centered around contributions from Cody Bellinger, with his two-run home run giving them a lead in the third inning. Bellinger became the second Dodgers player ever (Gil Hodges, 1951) with at least 20 home runs in his team’s first 55 games in a season; he’s the first in Los Angeles franchise history.
Matt Beaty added a pinch-hit RBI single that cut into the Dodgers’ deficit and brought Bellinger to the plate as the tying run. He came away empty, however, flying out to end the seventh inning.
Smith, went 2-for-4, with a single in his first at-bat and double in the seventh. He also threw out a baserunner in the sixth, benefitting from the Dodgers challenging a safe call on a stolen base attempt.
