What was a close game for much of the evening in this series opener between the Mets and Dodgers ended with an ultimately rather comfortable 4-2 victory for the Dodgers. What’s more, Juan Soto had to leave the game early due to more soreness in his ailing calf.
Sean Manaea, who had a very strong outing, but did not factor into the decision worked around a leadoff single by Shohei Ohtani, who was initially called out on strikes but challenged and got an extra life, which he is going to take full advantage of more often than not. Leadoff hits would be a theme this evening for the Dodgers, but in the first Manaea bounced back to strike out two batters in a row to end the inning. In the bottom of the second, the Mets got on the board first via a towering one-out solo homer to left by Luis Robert—his second long ball in four games since returning from the injured list. Jared Young followed with a double, but the Mets were unable to drive him in and add on.
Heading into the top of the third, Manaea had retired six straight, but that ended when Teoscar Hernández doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning. A.J. Ewing had a chance to throw him out at second, but Ewing rushed the throw and it was off line. However, Manaea was able to navigate around this as well and escape the inning unscathed. Juan Soto drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the third, but Bo Bichette grounded into a double play to end the threat. Roki Sasaki kept the Mets’ hitters off balance all evening with his lethal splitter, generating an enormous number of whiffs on it and ultimately striking out nine in seven innings of work.
The Dodgers tied the game off Manaea in the top of the fourth. Freddie Freeman, who went on to collect three hits, singled to lead off the inning and Mookie Betts followed with a single of his own to put runners at the corners and nobody out. Miguel Rojas then hit a fly ball deep enough to score Freeman and tie the game. Manaea then walked Kyle Tucker; Francisco Alvarez wanted to challenge the ball four call, but he waited too long to do so, prolonging the inning. But Manaea got the next two batters to fly out to end the inning and limit the damage to just the one run, navigating through the Dodgers’ lineup effectively using predominantly fastballs.
Shohei Ohtani demonstrated a piece of hitting only he can achieve in the top of the fifth when he poked a Manaea sweeper that was at least six inches off the plate to right field for a double, but he tried to stretch it into a triple and Carson Benge and Francisco Lindor combined for a sparkling play to throw him out at third base, helping Manaea to get out of the inning. The Mets briefly threatened in the bottom of the frame when Jared Young laced a leadoff single, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch by Sasaki. But Sasaki did not yield and the score stay knotted at one run apiece.
Freeman led off the top of the sixth with a double that was hit so hard that if Carson Benge had fielded the carom off the wall cleanly in right field, he may have thrown Freeman out at second. Alas, Benge did not field it cleanly, but he would make up for it. Mookie Betts hit a deep fly ball to center and Freeman tagged to third base. Miguel Rojas then hit a fly ball deep enough to right field to go in the scorecard as his second sac fly of the evening, but Benge unleashed a 100mph cannon of a throw—the fastest by any Mets outfielder in the Statcast era—to nab Freeman at the plate and keep the go ahead run off the board, much to the delight of Manaea, who raised both arms above his head in salute.
The joy of Benge’s fantastic defensive play was short-lived because Juan Soto was due up to lead off the bottom of the sixth, but Jorge Polanco strode to the plate instead as a pinch hitter, marking Soto’s premature departure from the game due to continued soreness in his calf that had been plaguing him. The Mets went down 1-2-3 in the inning and Manaea, having given up just one run in six innings of work, made way for Brooks Raley to pitch the seventh. Kyle Tucker slapped a slow bouncer to the third base side to lead off the inning and was able to beat it out for an infield hit. Teoscar Hernández then blooped a soft single to right to advance Tucker to third. Dalton Rushing then attempted a squeeze play, but bunted it too hard back to the mound and Raley threw the ball home. But Rushing managed to get caught in a run down between third and home long enough that the trail runners were able to advance to second and third. That turned out to be a key turn of events because Shohei Ohtani hit a sacrifice fly to plate the go-ahead run. Raley then walked Andy Pages, but got Tommy Edman to ground out to short to end the inning.
The Mets were retired in order in the seventh by Sasaki, who matched his career longest outing. The Mets then turned from one lefty reliever on the trading block to another and as it turns out, neither of them were able to put up a zero. A.J. Minter gave up a leadoff single to Freddie Freeman—the seventh Dodgers leadoff hit in eight innings. The now slow-footed Freeman managed to steal second base and Minter retired the next two batters on popups to get within one out of escaping the jam. But then Kyle Tucker delivered the death knell: a two-run homer that put the Dodgers ahead 4-1.
It was cushion the Dodgers turned out to need, as Francisco Alvarez launched a solo homer off Evan Phillips in the eighth to cut the Dodgers’ lead to two runs. But after Cionel Pérez pitched the only scoreless inning by a Mets reliever in the top of the ninth, Tanner Scott set the Mets down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to close things out for the Dodgers.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Sean Manaea, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: A.J. Minter, -17% WPA
Mets pitchers: -8% WPA
Mets hitters: -42% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Robert Jr.’s solo home run in the second, +11.5% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: A.J. Minter gives up a two-run homer to Kyle Tucker in the eighth, -18.2% WPA
