Dee Gordon turned out to be a thorn in the Mets’ side after giving the Mets the lead with two errors in the third inning.
The New York Mets were unable to complete a four game sweep agains the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday Night as they fell by the score of 8-3. The Mets committed three errors in the game as the Los Angeles bats awoke from their week-long slumber just in time to send the New York on a much longer long flight home.
The game started out with the Mets taking a 1-0 lead, Andres Torres was hit by a pitch to start off the game but was caught stealing by Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw. Shortstop Ruben Tejada walked and David Wright advanced him to second with a single, followed by Scott Hairston singling on a line drive to left to drive home Tejada.
Hairston was thrown out trying to stretch the play into a double which turned out to be costly as the Mets made two base running errors in the opening frame. In the worst case scenario after Hairston’s at bat the Mets should have been leading by a 2-0 score with Wright on second and Hairston on first. Lucas Duda eventually flied out for what proved to be the third out but in reality should have been the first.
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The former Brooklyn Franchise tied the game in the bottom of the first after catcher AJ Ellis hit a one out double and two batters later came around to score on a double by Juan Rivera to knot the game up.
The Mets scored twice more in the top of the third to take a 3-1 lead after Dillon Gee walked, followed by a Torres strikeout. Tejada singled in a play which saw Gee reach third on an error, followed by Wright grounding out to score Gee. Hairston reached on a throwing error by Dee Gordon as Wright raced home with the Mets’ third run and they took their lead to the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth the wheels began to fall off for the Mets as Juan Uribe walked and Tony Gwynn Jr. reached on a catching error against Ronny Cedeno. The next batter was Kershaw who advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, followed by Gordon reaching on an error by Justin Turner who was in the lineup at first base that allowed Uribe to score. Ellis hit a sacrifice fly to knot the game at three.
The bottom of the sixth saw the Dodgers take their first lead in 66 innings after their offense has struggled greatly over the past week or so. Los Angeles scored on a groundout that allowed Rivera to cross the plate. The Dodgers faced three different pitchers in the bottom of the seventh as Ramon Ramirez, Justin Hampson and Miguel Batista struggled to get any outs in the inning as the Dodgers ballooned their lead up to 8-3 which went on to be the final score.
Earning the win was newly minted two time all star in Kershaw who threw seven innings allowing one earned run on five hits while striking out nine. Taking his seventh loss of the year was Gee who allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits over six innings. Ramirez was charged with two unearned runs, Hampson one and Batista one while Jeremy Hefner pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Game Ball: Ruben Tejada, early on he had a pair of hits that got the Mets off to a fast start in the game. Unfortunately the light-hitting bottom of the order nor the inept bullpen felt the need to play well in this game.
Up Next: The Mets fly 3,000 miles back to New York for a day off tomorrow before taking on the Phillies starting on Tuesday night. The game features Vance Worley (4-4, 2.92 ERA) against Jon Niese (6-3, 3.55 ERA) with first pitch slated for 7:10 p.m.
Other Notes: I feel the Mets may make a roster move after this game, we may have seen the last of Miguel Batista who struggled once again. With Jeremy Hefner as the new “long-man” theres no need for Batista anymore so he may get the DFA title, while Pedro Beato makes a return trip to Queens.
