Game 18 of 162
Dodgers 5 - Mets 0 (Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles)
Mets record: 11-7
Mets streak: Lost 1
WP - Clayton Kershaw (3-1)
LP - Tylor Megill (3-1)
Seat 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.
Clayton Kershaw pitched seven innings of three hit ball for his 200th career victory and showed why he is a future Hall of Famer. Kershaw didn't have a three ball count until the 7th inning. He struck out nine and walked nobody as the Mets were confounded all night by Kershaw and his curve ball. So he gets the seat tonight for his excellent effort and his milestone victory.
Need to Know
Kershaw's ERA against the Mets falls to a paltry 2.03 for his career as he improved to 11-0 against them all time.
Of Kershaw's nine strikeouts, two came against Starling Marte, two came against Francisco Lindor, and two came against Pete Alonso. Those are the 2-3-4 hitters in the lineup. (Marte and Lindor would end up with three K's each for the night.)
The offensive star was J.D. Martinez, touching up Tylor Megill for two home runs which drove in the first three runs in the game. The first homer came off a slider, and the second one was off a fastball. But both pitches caught way too much plate and Martinez crushed them. Martinez would end the night with four hits and four RBI.
Megill was fortunate to give up just the three runs, as he gave up seven hits and four walks in his five innings of work. He got outs when he needed to, except against Martinez.
Megill came into the game holding righties to a .118 average, while lefties were hitting .333 (8-for-24) against him. Of the seven hits he gave up tonight, four were to lefties, and the other three were against Martinez.
Jeff Brigham made his Mets debut and struck out the only two hitters he faced in the 7th, throwing just eight pitches, seven of them strikes.
John Curtiss had his second shaky outing in a row. The Dodgers scored two runs in the 8th to put the game out of reach off Curtiss, who gave up two hits and a walk with the third out coming as J.D. Martinez was thrown out trying to stretch his RBI single into a double.
Turning Point
Kershaw was cruising with two outs in the 7th. Then, Mark Canha singled to culminate a 13 pitch at-bat where he fouled off some nasty pitches. And that was followed by Jeff McNeil ambushing Kershaw for a first pitch single. So not only did Kershaw lose his chance to deeper in the game, but now he had real trouble with two runners on base and Tommy Pham up as the tying run. Kershaw, losing steam, needed to turn this on a dime, and quickly.
The emotion that Kershaw was rare, but it showed you what an important moment that was in the game.
Three Keys
The game could have taken a different turn in the first inning. Brandon Nimmo (the designated hitter tonight despite having played stellar defense lately), hit a screamer that Jason Heyward misplayed into a three base error. So with a runner on third base with nobody out, Kershaw showed you what kinds of night this was going to be as he struck out Marte, Lindor and Alonso to end the threat. The breaks that he had on his curveball was 5' 7", just two inches short of the average height of an American male.
The 13 pitch at-bat by Mark Canha in the 7th really should be noted here, even though it didn't eventually lead to a run or more. Would have been really easy for a ballplayer to throw in the towel down by three runs with two outs and nobody on against a guy who is going to make the Hall of Fame. But he fouled off some insane pitches to stay in the at-bat before getting the single. It's what we've come to know about Canha in his time here.
Brett Baty started the game on the bench against Kershaw. But he came up in the 8th inning, pinch hitting for Tomas Nido against Evan Phillips with Francisco Alvarez on first base after he pinch ran for Daniel Vogelbach. It was the last gasp for the Mets as they were still down by only three. Baty hit a ball that looked like it was labeled for the outfield. But second baseman Miguel Vargas made a great leaping catch, and caught Alvarez straying off first base for the easy double play.