Mets blow ninth-inning lead, lose 6-5 to Dodgers in 10 innings

The Mets fell short of a second straight extra-innings win over the reigning champions, as they fell in 10 innings to the Dodgers, 6-5, on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Here are the takeaways…

— It didn’t take long for the Mets to draw first blood against veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw — they only needed 17 pitches, to be exact. After a one-out single from Starling Marte, who proceeded to reach second base on a wild pitch, Pete Alonso made the score 1-0 with a two-out single to left. It was the team-high 47th run driven in by Alonso, who won an eight-pitch battle with the future Hall-of-Famer.

— Unfortunately for the Mets, their lead with Tylor Megill on the mound lasted just 11 pitches. The Dodgers knotted the score with one out and a runner on first when Freddie Freeman poked a double past Alonso down the right-field line. The relay throw from Juan Soto on the warning track was then bobbled by Jeff McNeil on the transfer, and that fielding error allowed Freeman to reach third and ultimately score on a groundout from Will Smith.

— The first-inning mess didn’t end there for Megill. With another runner on first — Teoscar Hernandez reached on a one-out walk before Smith’s groundout — the right-hander grooved a fastball to Max Muncy, who smacked it 407 feet to right for a two-run home run. Megill threw 31 pitches in the four-run frame, which ironically started with an impressive strikeout of Shohei Ohtani.

— New York cut its deficit to one in the third, with a two-run rally against Kershaw that began with a leadoff single from Francisco Lindor and ended with a loud two-run blast from Soto. The homer to right marked Soto’s fifth straight game with an extra-base hit, and bumped his OPS over. 800 for the first time since May 21. Yet another sign indicating that the superstar slugger is finally busting out.

— In the fifth, the Mets erased their deficit completely. With two on and two out, Alonso belted a game-tying double to the left-center gap that brought home Lindor and sent Marte to third. Three pitches later, Brandon Nimmo drove in Marte by beating out a chopper hit to first, making the score 5-4. The bang-bang play on the toss from Freeman to Kershaw covering the bag was initially ruled the third out, but the Mets challenged and the replay overturned the call. It was also the final pitch thrown by Kershaw, who entered Tuesday with a career 2.00 ERA in 11 starts against New York.

— Megill collected himself after the early troubles, retiring nine straight at one point and 13 of 14 through five frames. He also received some help in the fourth from Soto, who flashed the leather with an impressive running catch in foul territory along the right-field side wall. The overall run support and gutsy recovery placed Megill in line for the win, and he finished the night with seven strikeouts (18 whiffs) across six innings at 105 pitches.

— With the Mets’ bullpen in need of a fresh arm, Brandon Waddell was called up from Triple-A and made his third relief appearance of the season. He pitched a scoreless seventh, inducing a pair of groundouts and one lineout with one walk sandwiched between. Reed Garrett was then called upon to handle the meat of the Dodgers’ lineup, and he magically escaped a no-out jam with two runners in scoring position by striking out Freeman, forcing Hernandez into a fielder’s choice groundout, and fanning Smith.

— The tightrope act from Garrett was all for naught in the ninth. With the bullpen lacking its regular depth, Huascar Brazobán entered for the save opportunity and immediately blew it to the leadoff hitter in Muncy, who crushed a game-tying homer to right. The veteran right-hander managed to push the game to extra innings for a second straight night by striking out three straight.

— The Mets’ muscle stepped up to the plate in the 10th inning, but Dodgers closer Tanner Scott overcame Monday’s letdown by impressively retiring Soto and Alonso on strikeouts and Nimmo on a ground out. The bottom half of the frame belonged to José Butto, and after he intentionally walked the leadoff hitter in Ohtani to create the force at any base, and Mookie Betts flew out, Freeman drove in the winning run with a deep fly to left that was mistracked by Nimmo.

— Ronny Mauricio made his 2025 big league debut, batting seventh and playing third in place of the injured Mark Vientos. In his first at-bat during the second inning, the 24-year-old grounded into a 6-4-3 double play with an exit velocity of 100 mph. He struck out against Kershaw in his second trip to the plate in the fourth, grounded out to first in the sixth, and then popped out to short in the eighth.

Game MVP: Freddie Freeman

The veteran slugger drove in the Dodgers’ first run of the game with a double and their last with a double. He’s now hitting .369, which ranks best in the NL and second among all qualified hitters.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets (38-23) will begin the second half of their four-game set at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night, with first pitch scheduled for 10:10 p.m. on SNY.

Griffin Canning (5-2, 3.23 ERA) is slated to take the mound, opposite right-hander Tony Gonsolin (3-1, 5.23 ERA).

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