LOS ANGELES — As if the second NLCS rematch in lower than two weeks wasn’t eventful sufficient, the apocalypse hit Tuesday at Dodger Stadium
By that, I imply rain, which is principally the identical factor as an apocalypse to Angelenos.
It rained previous to the second sport of a four-game set between the Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers, with thunder, lightning and a deluge that started seemingly out of nowhere proper over Chavez Ravine.
It was an ominous signal of what was to come back.
The world didn’t precisely finish, however the sport ended on a walk-off double by Freddie Freeman within the tenth inning that sailed over Brandon Nimmo’s head after he acquired circled attempting to trace it down on the wall. The Mets misplaced 6-5 after taking a lead within the fifth inning.
Enjoying in to defend in opposition to a base hit with the ghost runner on second, Freeman acquired a sweeper over the plate from right-hander Jose Butto and drove it to left area. Nimmo had a learn on the ball, however needed to flip to get again in time, and it sliced in one other path, leaving him unable to make a play.
“As soon as he hit it, I knew it was hit well,” Nimmo mentioned. “I put my head down to get back towards the fence. It went over the left shoulder, and when I looked up, it was still over the left shoulder.”
He turned once more towards the wall, and when he spun round, it was over his proper shoulder, and the ball landed a couple of foot in entrance of him, bouncing off the warning monitor and banking off the wall.
“I checked the wall real quick and put my eyes back up, and it moved to the other shoulder,” Nimmo mentioned. “So by that time, there’s not enough time to recover.”
Juan Soto hit a two-run homer off left-hander Clayton Kershaw, Pete Alonso went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI, and right-hander Tylor Megill turned his night time round with a gritty effort on the mound.
However one night time after throwing 31 pitches, right-hander Huascar Brazobán couldn’t shield a one-run lead, giving up a leadoff bomb to Max Muncy within the backside of the ninth, the second one of many night time for the Dodgers’ third baseman.
“We went into the game probably trying to stay away from him,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned of Brazobán. “But he felt good coming in today, played catch, and we felt good with using him. Got ahead 1-2, and left too good of a pitcher to a good hitter, and he made him pay for it.”
Brazobán recovered to strike out the subsequent three, sending the sport into additional innings for the second night time in a row.
The bullpen was skinny. The Mets innings have been including up for the bullpen with starters solely going about 5 innings, and Mendoza didn’t have his full group of high-leverage relievers. He couldn’t use setup man Ryne Stanek or nearer Edwin Diaz after they pitched Monday night time, and he didn’t have left-hander Jose Castillo both.
Megill gave the Mets six innings, turning his night time round after giving up 4 runs within the fourth. By the point Megill returned to the mound for the underside of the second down 4-1, he regarded like a unique pitcher. He stopped throwing so many fastballs and began mixing his pitches to maintain hitters off steadiness.
It labored. Megill held Dodgers scoreless over the subsequent 5 innings, retiring the subsequent eight straight hitters earlier than giving up a double to Andy Pages, then retiring the subsequent seven. He struck out seven over these 5 frames.
Left-hander Brandon Waddell pitched the seventh, and the Mets went to Garrett to face the highest of the order within the eighth, beginning with Shohei Ohtani.
“Waddell comes in and he’s pretty much your long man,” Mendoza mentioned. “He gets three outs, and then, in the eighth inning, up one, you don’t have many bullets, so I shot Garrett there, the best that I have available against the best hitters there. And then you hopefully get the last three outs with Brazobán.”
Soto took Kershaw deep within the third for a two-run shot to tug the Mets inside one. It was his eleventh residence run of the season and his third in 4 video games, an indication that perhaps the slugger is beginning to shake off his gradual begin to the season. With two on and two out within the fifth, Alonso hit a double to the hole to attain Francisco Lindor and even the rating at 4-4.
Nimmo beat the throw from Muncy for an infield single to attain the go-ahead run. He was known as out, however the name was overturned after the Mets challenged the ruling.
Nimmo might need put the Mets forward, however his lack of ability to make a play in the end value them the sport.
“I had a read on it,” Nimmo mentioned. “In fact, I thought I was going to [make the catch] as long as it was staying in the park… I have a lot of years of experience that told me kind of like the reactions of these things. And that one was kind of like a different reaction. I was very surprised to find it over the other shoulder. So obviously, a very unfortunate time for that to happen.”
