On this, the day of Carlos Beltrán’s Hall of Fame induction, the Mets pulled together some offensive production, defensive plays, and quality relief pitching to come up with a win against the Dodgers and avoid the season sweep with a final score Mets 8, Dodgers 3.
The day started less optimistically, when Freddy Peralta gave up a double right away at the top of the first inning to Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani reached third when Freddie Freeman grounded out to Brett Baty at second base. However, it took Peralta eleven pitches to get there, and seven pitches to walk Max Muncy, one batter later. By the time Mookie Betts lined out to end the top of the first, Peralta’s pitch count was 25.
At the bottom of the first, A.J. Ewing tapped a double into center field that Andy Pages couldn’t quite get his glove on. Francisco Lindor followed him with an RBI single into center field, allowing Ewing to easily score. Bo Bichette hit a grounder into left field for a single, but the next three batters could not make anything happen. The first inning ended with Lindor and Bichette stranded, but the score was Mets 1, Dodgers 0.
When Peralta came back out for the second inning, he was able to work a 1-2-3 inning thanks to a beautiful play by Taylor to Baty to throw out Teoscar Hernández at second base. Despite the replays showing that Hernández was likely safe, the Dodgers did not challenge, and the top of the inning was over. Taylor led off the bottom of the second inning by being hit by a pitch but was stranded on first base.
The third inning was rough for Peralta as his pitch count ballooned again. Eliezer Alfonzo led off with a ground-rule double that stayed fair when it bounced off the foul line in right field and into the crowd. Pages walked, and after seven pitches, Freeman smacked an RBI double to left field, allowing Alfonzo to score and Pages to reach third base. Max Muncy grounded out, but Pages scored and Freeman moved to third. Mookie Betts flied out to end the suffering, but the Dodgers had taken the lead, 2-1. At the bottom of the third inning, Benge drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the third, but then Jorge Polanco flied out to end the inning and, you guessed it, strand Benge on first.
At the top of the fourth inning, Edman bounced a single off Alfonso Márquez’s knee. Márquez was the first base umpire today. When Kyle Tucker tapped a ball to first base, Jared Young missed the grab initially, and when he recovered, Peralta was not covering first base for the subsequent throw. As a result of this series of events, Tucker reached first on the fielder’s choice, and Edman reached second on Young’s error. Hernández capitalized on the situation with an opposite-field single to load the bases with no outs. Alfonzo grounded out to first when Baty threw to Young. However, Young dropped the ball on the transfer, eliminating any chance of a play at second. On the same play, Edman came home to score and increase the Dodgers’ lead, and the runners moved up to second and third. During the next at-bat, Pages flied out, but that was the end of Peralta’s outing, after four innings and the score Dodgers 3, Mets 1.
Baty walked and was stranded in the bottom of the fourth inning, but after a very quiet fifth inning, the Mets offense woke up at the bottom of the sixth inning. Benge and Luis Robert, Jr. (pinch-hitting for Jared Young) walked to start things off. Taylor came up and belted a three-run homer in to left field to put the Mets ahead. Baty grounded out and Luis Torrens struck out, but the score was now Mets 4, Dodgers 3, and there was hope in the Mets’ heart again.
After Cionel Pérez worked two excellent innings, Brooks Raley came in for the top of the seventh, and retired all the batters in order. Ewing walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh, and reached second base after Freddie Freeman lost his glove tagging Lindor out at first. Bichette dribbled an infield hit down the third base line, and Ewing beat out the throw to reach third. During Benge’s at-bat, a passed ball by Dalton Rushing allowed Ewing to score. Jorge Polanco walked after that. Marcus Semien had replaced Baty at second base in the shuffle when Robert replaced Young, and he clobbered a soaring three-run home run that flew over left field. After Taylor grounded out to end the seventh inning, the score now stood at Mets 8, Dodgers 3.
Luke Weaver still came out for the eighth inning, presumably to get some work, but his outing was not as smooth as most have been for him. Weaver gave up lead-off single to Freeman. Semien was able to smother it, but when he came up, it seemed like he might have tweaked his neck or shoulder. He did stay in the game, though. With two outs, Edman knocked a single into right field to bring up Tucker, and Weaver hit him with a pitch to load the bases. Fortunately, Hernández grounded out when Weaver was able to grab the softly-hit ball and get it to Baty at first base, ending the scoring threat from the Dodgers in the eighth inning.
At the top of the ninth, Devin Williams replaced Weaver. Rushing led off for the Dodgers and tapped a cue ball down to left field that Bichette could not grab. However, after that Alex Call pinch-hit for Ohtani and struck out. Williams struck out the final two batters and the game ended as the Mets won, 8-3.
The Mets will face the Braves tomorrow in the start of a new series. Zac Thornton will start for the Mets and face off against Martin Pérez for the Braves. First pitch is at 7:10 PM ET.
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What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Tyrone Tayler, +43% WPA
Big Mets loser: Freddy Peralta, -17% WPA
Mets pitchers: +1% WPA
Mets hitters: +49% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Tyrone Taylor’s 3-run home run, +41.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Freddie Freeman’s RBI double, -17.2% WPA
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