The Hateful Eight: Mets Drop Another One

Dodgers 8 Mets 2 (Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, CA)

Mets record: 7-12

Mets streak: Lost 8

WP - Shohei Ohtani (2-0)

LP - Clay Holmes (2-2)

Seat on the Korner: Dalton Rusching

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

Baseball is rife with examples of players who when given an opportunity, seize it (think Lou Gehrig taking over for Wally Pipp as the classic instance). Dalton Rusching, the Dodger's backup catcher, was given an an opportunity when it was decided keep Shohei Ohtani out of the lineup. Rusching responded with two key hits -- a second inning double that put him on base ahead of Hyeseong Kim's home run (see below) and a grand slam in the eighth that put the game totally out of reach. Rusching hasn't played much, with Will Smith entrenched behind the plate for the Dodgers, but when he is in the lineup, the rookie has torn the cover off the ball. Does he think tonight's performance has earned him more playing time? Let's see what he tells Ralph.

Need to Know

• The loss was the Mets' eighth in a row, and maybe their ugliest after close losses the previous two nights.

• Over previous seven games, the Mets pitchers have posted a 5.31 ERA, with 26 walks and 63 strikeouts. As bad as that sounds, the hitters have been worse: .178 BA, .211 on-base percentage and .258 slugging percentage.

• Negative streaks: Brett Baty entered the game in an 0-for-14 streak, and Luis Robert Jr. was 0-for-10. Make those 0-for-18 and 0-for-14 after they both put up ofers in this game. But those are still better than Mark Vientos' 0-for-23, which helps explain why Vientos wasn't in the lineup.

• The only positive note of the year: Mets pinch hitters have recorded a league-leading eight RBI, only one less than all of 2025. Their .364 average leads MLB. Of course, it's disconcerting that the best statistic comes from a situation in which the regulars can't be trusted to succeed.

• While Nolan McLean continues to impress every time he take the mound, he does not hold the record for the best ERA by a Met over his first 12 starts. That record is held by.....no, not Tom Seaver or Jacob DeGrom....Terry Leach, who recorded a 1.70. Of course, he did it over the course of seven seasons, since he pitched mostly in relief. McLean is second, at 2.13, over less than a calendar year.

• This was the one game of the year where you couldn't tell the players with a scorecard. Everyone wore the number 42 on their backs to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day.

• The Dodgers, somewhat fittingly, have a baseball-best 18-4 record on Jackie Robinson Day.

• Shohei Ohtani was not in the lineup for the Dodgers, limiting himself to pitching. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game that Ohtani was still feeling some soreness from taking a ball off his scapula a few days ago while batting, so it was decided to have him focus just on his pitching in this game. Backup catcher Dalton Rushing DH'd.

• Edwin Diaz watch: If you're wondering why the Dodgers didn't use him in the first two games of the series, it's because they were concerned about a dip in his fastball velocity -- 95.8 MPH, down from 97.2 last season. Diaz blew his first save of the season Friday against the Rangers, averaging just (!) 95.5 or lower for just the sixth time in his career. Diaz threw a bullpen session before the game and was deemed ready to pitch. He started warming up in the bullpen to pitch the ninth, but was not needed.

• Roster move: Before the game, the team placed Jared Young on the 10-day IL because of a meniscus tear in his right knee and recalled MJ Melendez from Syracuse. Melendez had been hitting an unimpressive .216 in AAA, although six of his 11 hits were for extra bases. Melendez is listed as an outfielder, but in his 218 major league games, he has also played 88 at catcher. Keep that in mind if Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens get hurt in the same game -- and especially if he hits the way he did in this game, with two doubles.

• The Mets blow into the Windy City for three games starting Friday, with Kodai Senga taking the mound against Edward Cabrera. Will the confines of Wrigley Field be friendly to the Mets' bats?

Turning Point

Mets starter Clay Holmes worked his way through the meat of the Dodgers' order and seemed poised to make it out of the second after two quick outs. But then backup catcher Daulton Rushing, the designated hitter in place of Shohei Ohtani) doubled, which didn't seem like such a big deal with shortstop Hyeseong Kim at bat. Kim, recalled from AAA Albuquerque when Mookie Betts went on the IL with an oblique injury, had only three home runs in 78 major league games. But he crushed a Holmes pitch to deep right field, and maybe if Carson Benge were a foot taller he could have had a chance to catch the ball. Instead, it landed in the seats to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. With the way the Mets have been hitting and with Ohtani on the mound, it seemed like the game was over, even with seven innings yet to be played.

Three Keys

Ohtani on the mound. Enough said.

Nursing a sore scapula from being hit by a pitch, Shohei Ohtani was kept out of the lineup to concentrate on his pitching. Wise move by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. Ohtani was his masterful self, having everyone in the lineup not named MJ Melendez eating out of his hand. Six innings, two hits, 22 swinging strikes, 10 strikeouts. Not the pitcher you wanted to face if your entire lineup is in a slump.

Shall we be a little positive? At least Melendez added some life to a lifeless batting order with two doubles, although he regressed to the mean in the seventh with Carson Benge on third, two outs and Blake Treinen on the mound.

When Things Are Going Bad.....

Nothing seems to go your way. In the top of the fifth, Francisco Alvarez walked, bringing up Carson Benge, who, to put the most optimistic spin on a bad situation, appears to be having better at-bats recently. Benge hit a soft liner to left that Teoscar Hernandez trapped. A single for the Mets' rookie? When things are going good, certainly. But in this case? Alvarez, thinking the ball was going to be caught, never moved from first and was forced out at second, costing Benge a hit. The baserunning gaffe took on greater importance a few batters later, when MJ Melendez lined a double that bounced into the stands for a grounds rule double. The Mets scored one run; had Alvarez not been forced, the Mets would have scored two and tied the game.

Claymation kept things close, but then.....

Clay Holmes, as always dependable, went five innings and allowed only two runs (the Hyeseong Kim home run) -- the 21st time in his last 35 starts that he has thrown at least five innings and allowed two or fewer runs. Not your usual Holmes start -- more fly balls than grounders -- but he still left with the Mets trailing by only one run and Shohei Ohtani reaching his pitch count. Tobias Myers replaced Holmes for the sixth, and Teoscar Hernandez greeted him with a shot in about the same general area as Kim's,only 10 rows or so higher. With the way the Mets haven't been hitting, that seemed to put the game out of reach. Myers got out of the inning with no more damage, but then Devin Williams was called on to keep the game close. Nope. An infield hit that maybe Francisco Lindor could have fielded quicker, a walk, a single and a grand slam later, and the game was out of reach. And in came Austin Warren to surrender a home to Michael Tucker to erase any hope.