Gut Reaction: Mets 5, Dodgers 3 (9/1/22)

A couple of times today, the Dodgers looked like the Phillies defensively. That, combined with some good Mets baserunning, resulted in a 5-3 win Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. The win gave the Mets the season series versus the Dodgers, 4-3. It’s the first time the Mets have taken the regular season series since 2015, which was also by a 4-3 margin.

The Mets scored a run in the first inning of Clayton Kershaw, who was making his first start since being activated from the IL. An infield single by Francisco Lindor and three walks provided the early lead. But that’s all they would get against Kershaw in his five innings of work.

The Dodgers responded with two runs in the second inning to take the lead. The runs came on a bloop single to right field with the bases loaded. But the damage could have been worse, as the runner on first tried to score and was out at the plate by about 10 feet.

The Mets used their speed to re-take the lead in the sixth inning once Kershaw had been replaced by a righty reliever. Starling Marte beat out an infield single to second base and scored on a double by Lindor. With Darin Ruf due up in the hole, Buck Showalter had Daniel Vogelbach in the on-deck circle. But the Dodgers got a lefty reliever up. After Pete Alonso struck out, Showalter called back Vogelbach and sent Ruf to the plate to face the righty.

Speed again played a role, as Lindor stole third base. Ruf rewarded Showalter, as he drove home Lindor with a sacrifice fly, one that didn’t miss by much from clearing the fence.

Chris Bassitt gave the Mets six innings and took the win, his 12th of the season. Trevor May came on and got thru the seventh. With the Dodgers’ heart of the order coming up, Showalter planned to use Edwin Diaz in the eighth inning. But there were some strange happenings in the Mets’ half of the seventh.

With two outs, James McCann drove a double. It was his third well-struck ball of the game but the first time he reached base. Brandon Nimmo followed with a pop to shallow right field. Gavin Lux, the second baseman whose slow play allowed Marte to single in the sixth, went back a few steps and then gave up on the ball. The problem was that right fielder Mookie Betts was nowhere near the play, so the ball fell in for a gift double and an RBI for Nimmo.

Marte followed with an RBI single and the Mets had a 5-2 lead. Diaz sat down but no reliever immediately replaced him throwing. Since May threw 22 pitches in the seventh inning, it wasn’t likely that he was coming back for the eighth. Eventually, Seth Lugo got up. But he didn’t have enough time to get loose, so Diaz did come on.

The unusual entrance may have contributed to Diaz’ rough start to the inning. He walked the first batter and hit the next, putting two on with no outs. And if that wasn’t weird enough, the next two batters combined to hit the ball nearly 800 feet. But the ballpark held both hits. The lead runner tagged on both balls, scoring on the second.

Next batter up was Lux, who has had a good series with the bat but who had a day to forget in the field. It looked like Diaz had him struck out but the ump called the 0-2 pitch a ball. Diaz seemed perturbed with the non-call and proceeded to throw the next pitch 102.7 mph (according to Gary Cohen) and Lux swung thru it for the final out of the inning.

Vogelbach did get to bat in the eighth inning and he drew a walk. We got to see pinch runner deluxe Terrance Gore, who’s 31 years old but looks like he’s eight. Gore eschewed the oven mitt and instead went old school by keeping his fingers safe by clutching his batting gloves. He proceeded to steal second base but was stranded there.

Even though Lugo warmed up for the eighth inning, when it came down to a reliever to close out the ninth, Showalter went to Adam Ottavino, who also pitched the night before. But Ottavino had a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his third save of the year, giving the Mets the series win and starting September off on a great note.

*****

Not only was it a great day for the Mets, it was a good day for our Game Chatter, too, with a season-high 238 comments. The big four were there for most of the game and we were joined for a good stretch by Woodrow, too. Hopefully some Game Chatter veterans like Aging Bull, Bob P and T.J. can join us on Friday. And if you’ve never participated in one previously, please consider this your invitation. It’s definitely a case of the more, the merrier and we’d love to see some new people join us.