Mets win series opener against Dodgers, 4-3, in 10 innings

Yahoo

2 days ago

The Mets won their fourth straight by taking the opener of their four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-3, in 10 innings.
Here are the takeaways...
-For the sixth time already this season, Francisco Lindor gave New York an instant 1-0 lead after leading off the game with a home run against Dustin May. The solo shot was Lindor's team-leading 14th of the season and his second in as many days as his hot stretch continues.
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With that home run, the shortstop is just one leadoff bomb away from tying the Mets' franchise record for leadoff home runs in a season set by Curtis Granderson in 2015 and matched in 2016. At this pace, that record will be Lindor's at the end of the month. The most leadoff home runs he's hit in a season is nine in 2018 with the then-Cleveland Indians.
Lindor is also now tied for fourth place in franchise history with eight leadoff home runs as a Met, matching Tommie Agee and Lenny Dykstra.
-For a while, Lindor's home run was the only run in the game as May and Paul Blackburn were each pitching well. It wasn't until the fifth inning when New York scored again.
After back-to-back singles with one out from Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez, Lindor popped out to bring up Brandon Nimmo who hit a ground-rule double to the right-center field gap that scored McNeil and doubled the Mets' lead. Unfortunately, because the ball bounced into the stands, Alvarez could only advance to third even though he would've scored easily had the ball stayed in play.
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The Dodgers would intentionally walk Juan Soto to load the bases for Pete Alonso and get the right-on-right matchup which worked after Alonso ended the inning with a flyout.
-As for Blackburn, the right-hander couldn't have asked for a better season debut. Tasked with the tough assignment of pitching against Los Angeles' potent lineup, Blackburn turned in five scoreless innings after allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out three on 77 pitches (49 strikes).
The 31-year-old was never in a ton of danger, only allowing a runner beyond first base twice. With runners on first and second in his final inning, Blackburn retired Shohei Ohtani on a ground ball to keep the Mets in front. Blackburn bested Ohtani in all three plate appearances, striking out the DH in his other two at-bats.
-Ohtani would get his revenge in the seventh inning, homering off Max Kranick to get the Dodgers on the board and cut New York's lead to 2-1.
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-That score stood until the ninth inning with Ohtani once again up at the plate, this time with runners on first and third and one out against Edwin Diaz. Needing a strikeout, Diaz got Ohtani to fly out to left field which scored the tying run for the closer's first blown save of the season.
Still not out of the inning, Diaz struck out Teoscar Hernandez for the final out of the inning and sent the game to extra innings.
-In familiar territory after both teams went to extras in the series opener at Citi Field last week in a game that ended up going 13 innings, the Mets wasted no time re-taking the lead in the top of the 10th inning against Tanner Scott who they have had success against. Alvarez started things off with a double which scored the free-runner at second base and Lindor singled in another run to give New York a two-run lead.
-Up 4-2 in the bottom half of the inning and four of his relievers already used, manager Carlos Mendoza turned to Jose Castillo to close things out. But the lefty created a mess by walking Freddie Freeman to start before allowing an RBI single to Andy Pages. Castillo struck out Max Muncy for the first out of the inning before getting pulled for Jose Buttó.
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Buttó entered with the tying and winning runs on first and second and got Will Smith to flyout for the second out of the inning. Facing NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, Buttó got a hot shot back up the middle and snagged it before throwing to first base for the final out of the game.
Game MVP: The Franciscos
Lindor and Alvarez both deserve the shine tonight after combining for four hits and three RBI.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets and Dodgers continue their four-game clash on Tuesday night with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 p.m. on SNY.
RHP Tylor Megill (4-4, 3.52 ERA) will face off against LHP Clayton Kershaw (0-0, 4.91 ERA).