Dodgers 5 Mets 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 42-50
Mets streak: Lost 4
WP - Brustar Graterol (3-2)
LP - Adam Ottavino (0-4)
Seats on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
We have to have two seats tonight. Mookie Betts went 4-for-4 with a home run, and reached base five times tonight. But we also have to recognize reliever Caleb Ferguson:
Ferguson put himself in trouble in the 8th, but got out of the first and third and nobody out jam with a pop up and two K's to preserve a 2-1 lead before the Dodgers scored three in the 9th for a 5-1 victory. Ralph would have made room for two seats tonight.
Need to Know
The Mets offense is in brownout mode. They have four hits in the last two games, and they have four runs in the last four games.
Kodai Senga was very good, throwing six innings and striking out nine, only giving up two walks and four hits, one of which was the home run by Betts, which was a fastball on the outer edge. Not a bad pitch.
J.D. Martinez was the other hitting star for the Dodgers, going 3-for-5 with an RBI on the evening. David Peralta also drive in two runs.
Turning Point
With the score 2-1 Dodgers in the bottom of the 8th, Tommy Pham drew a walk off Caleb Ferguson, and Francisco Alvarez singled to left to send Pham to third. The Mets of 2023 have taken many situations like this and came up empty. Tonight, they were the quintessential Mets in that eight inning. Mark Canha, whose praises Joe Davis was singing, popped up in that moment. Then Brett Baty struck out, and it was up to Luis Guillorme.
You knew it would happen, and you knew what would happen next.
Three Keys
A tough night for Adam Ottavino: It started to unravel for the Mets in the top of the 8th. It's no secret that Ottavino has had trouble holding runners on base. But it reached a new level with a runner on first in the 8th and nobody out. When Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez are executing hit and runs on you, you know there's a problem.
A tough night for Pete Alonso: Alonso had made a couple of defensive gems earlier in the night, but in the 7th he hit into a 1-4-3 double play to end that threat. Then after the Muncy/Martinez hit and run, he had a chance to start a double play for the Mets.
It was almost as if Alonso was in-between on his mind on the throw. In any event, that gave the Dodgers the lead for good.
A tough night for Brett Baty: Baty was the second out in Ferguson's Houdini job in the 8th. Then in the ninth with runners on second and third and one out, Muncy gave the Mets a tailor made second out on a pop up to third. But it looked like it was dicey from jump, and unfortunately Baty is now enconsed in blooper history:
More unfortunately, that led directly to the 3rd Dodger run while the 4th and 5th runs quickly followed.
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