LOS ANGELES — Dodger Stadium evokes every kind of nostalgia.
From Sandy Koufax to Clayton Kershaw, and Kirk Gibson to Freddie Freeman, the legends which have come by means of the hallowed grounds of Chavez Ravine are quite a few. The seats are painted with the colours of the seashore, matching the colours when the solar units over the Sierra Madres within the backdrop.
It’s Hollywood, it’s hip hop, and it’s historic.
Whereas it might need been the location of the Mets’ elimination from the playoffs final October, the Amazin’s had solely good reminiscences Wednesday night time in a 6-1 win over the workforce that beat them en path to successful the World Collection.
Pete Alonso hit two dwelling runs, together with a large, three-run shot within the high of the eighth that he hit so onerous the outfielder barely gave chase, and right-hander Griffin Canning tossed six shutout innings.
“It’s a special place,” Alonso mentioned. “Same thing with Wrigley [Field] and Fenway [Park]. It’s like the little fan inside thinks you’re a little kid out there. So it’s really fun.”
A Southern California native who grew up in Orange County, performed faculty ball with the Bruins on the opposite aspect of Sundown Blvd after which spent six seasons together with his hometown workforce in Anaheim, Canning has had loads of success at Dodger Stadium all through the years. He received a highschool championship there and pitched there in faculty with UCLA. Whereas this recreation didn’t precisely have championship implications, it’s nonetheless notable to carry one of many deepest and hardest lineups in baseball scoreless for six innings.
“I definitely have good memories here,” Canning mentioned. “So it’s nice to go out there and throw well tonight.”
“Pretty impressive for him to go out there and do what he did against that team,” added supervisor Carlos Mendoza.
Canning wanted a robust begin. Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are each working towards June returns and Canning wasn’t as efficient together with his secondary pitches over his previous few begins.
This one, nevertheless, was his greatest but.
Canning (6-2) received swings and misses on his slider, and used his fastball and changeup to maintain hitters off steadiness. He was completely stifling. The Dodgers managed solely three hits and one stroll, and struck out seven instances towards the right-hander. His ERA is right down to 2.90 over 12 begins.
“I think tonight, in particular, just threw my slider a lot,” Canning mentioned. “One of those at bats when [Andy] Pages grounded out to short, it feels like that stood out, [that’s] where I kind of got some good feel for my slider. I feel like I kind of got back to how I was pitching at the beginning of the year and in spring training, just kind of leaning on the slider and changeup.”
Alonso hit a two-run shot off right-hander Tony Gonsolin within the first inning to provide Canning a 3-0 lead. Francisco Lindor scored on an RBI ground-out by Juan Soto to place the Mets up 1-0, and with one out, Alonso caught a sweeper on the surface fringe of the plate and drove it into the best discipline seats.
But it surely was the large one within the eighth that pushed the sport out of attain of Los Angeles and perhaps even pushed one fan over the sting — actually.
With two on and none out, Alonso teed off on the second pitch he noticed from rookie right-hander Ryan Loutos, sending it 447 ft into the left discipline bleachers. The ball was hit so nicely that left fielder Michael Conforto chased for only some steps earlier than realizing the ball was virtually again to the parking zone.
“I think optically, I just see the ball really well here,” Alonso mentioned. “I don’t know, simply optically, it’s good, and the batter’s field feels good…
“Also hitting in historic parks is really cool.”
It was his ninth dwelling run at Dodger Stadium, and it was rapidly adopted by a fan leaping over the wall in left discipline, tearing off his garments and sprinting across the outfield.
With 14 homers on the season, Alonso is tied for the workforce lead with Lindor. His tempo slowed significantly in Could, however the Polar Bear has carried out much less chasing and extra hitting in latest days, hitting safely in eight straight video games from Could 24-June 1, with eight extra-base hits in his final 10 video games.
MVP watch is again on for the foreseeable future.
“It’s part of the grind,” Mendoza mentioned. “When you’re playing 162, you’re gonna go through stretches where they’re going to make you chase, and you’re gonna have to make adjustments. And that’s what makes him a great hitter — his ability to adjust.”
The Mets (39-23) secured the seven-game season sequence. They’ll play one remaining regular-season recreation towards the Dodgers (37-25) on Thursday afternoon, however whatever the consequence, to the Mets, it solely issues in October.
“We’re still a long ways from that,” Mendoza mentioned. “I don’t like to get ahead of myself here, we’ve still got a lot of baseball. Our job is to continue to win series and win games. Our mentality is always going to be one game at a time. So, yeah, we won this overall series, but our job is to win this series here tomorrow.”
