Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. The New York Mets are tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th against their competitors – in this case it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Los Angeles Dodgers have batters on first and second and in comes New York Mets reliever Antonio Bastardo, facing the batter with nobody out. Unlike his incredible relief effort the other day where he was awarded the New York Mets belt, this relief outing was a little scarier as the Dodgers Yasmani Grandal slugged one that looked like it was going to go over the wall, but fell short. The good news though is, anxiety aside, is that Bastardo did what he was supposed to do and retired the Dodgers without any damage done.
Unfortunately, in the next inning, Hansel Robles was the relief pitcher in the bottom of the 9th for the New York Mets and gave up a game-winning homerun. The Mets lost to the Dodgers 3-2 and broke a three-game winning streak.
“I put the slider down,” New York Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki said. “Ultimately, I want my pitcher to have conviction with what he’s throwing. And if he doesn’t feel comfortable throwing his slider in that situation, then I’ve got to trust him on that. The situation was what it was. … We left the ball up and they took advantage of it.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers came into the game with a 16-16 record and tied for first place in the NL. The Mets came into the game a half-game ahead in the National League east.
Jacob deGrom started the game for the Mets and surrendered doubles to Chase Utley and Corey Seager and a sacrifice fly to Adrian Gonzalez in the two-run first. He settled in and blanked the Dodgers until he was relieved after 7 innings, giving up eight hits and two runs, while striking out four.
The Mets responded with two runs in the top of the 2nd inning to tie it up and had 5 hits going into the bottom of the 9th. The Dodgers finished the game with 10 hits, but it only took one shot to give them the victory. Robles earned himself a notch in the loss column for that one.
Mets’ outfielder Yoenis Cespedes had an interesting game on both sides of the plate. He made a great play after the Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez hit a shot that looked like a homerun ricochet off the wall. Gonzalez, who wanted to stretch it to a double, was thrown out at second by a wicked 232 foot throw to second base by Cespedes. At bat, Cespedes went 1 for 3 with a walk, but when he was on base in the 6th, a frightening moment when he slid back to first on a pickoff throw and seemed to jam his ankle. After a few minutes, he stayed in the game. Let’s hope that’s not a lingering issue.
I think I’m going to give the Mr. Magoo award to David Wright for tonight’s three strikeouts, although the Mets did have a whopping 13 strikeouts as a team. Maybe they can they all share the Magoo glasses?
Tonight, the Mets play the third of the four-game series against the Dodgers with right-hander Noah Syndergaard on the mound. Syndergaard is 2-2 with a 2.58 ERA. The Dodgers will put Kenta Maeda on the mound. The right-hander is 3-1 with an impressive 1.66 ERA. Although the Mets are averaging 4 runs in their games, I’m not so sure that this game will be one of those times.
Hey Mets fans in the New York area: The team started their “Runs = $avings” promotion starts for the next seven road games, May 9-15. For each run scored by the Mets during both series vs. the Dodgers and Rockies, fans save 1% off the box office ticket price for select seats during the next Mets homestand May 17-22 when the Mets host the Washington Nationals and Milwaukee Brewers.
The more runs the Mets score, the greater savings for fans. For example, if the Mets score 30 runs over the course of the seven games, fans will save 30 percent off select seats. Tickets for this promotion will go on sale approximately 30 minutes following the conclusion of Sunday afternoon’s game at Colorado at mets.com/runs. The offer concludes on May 22. Tickets for this promotion will be located in Baseline Box, Budweiser Landing and Promenade Outfield seating only and are available while supplies last.
