Dodgers Recap: Dodgers done in by double dose of the Polar Bear

CHAVEZ RAVINE — After two thrillers to start the series, Wednesday’s game at Dodger Stadium between the Mets and Dodgers was a snoozefest. The Mets got three runs in the first, and then three more in the eighth, thanks to a pair of homers from first baseman Pete Alonso. The Dodgers, meanwhile, had an extremely quiet night at the plate, and they fell to New York by a score of 6-1. Ugh.

Things got off to a very familiar start on Wednesday–with the Dodgers in an early hole. The Mets jumped on starter Tony Gonsolin for a three-spot in the top of the first. The big blow in the inning was a two-run jack from first baseman Pete Alonso. So if the Dodgers were to win this one, they would have to do it in come-from-behind fashion.

Nothing really to speak of on the offensive side for the first third of the game off starter Griffin Canning. Andy Pages hit a single in the second, and Shohei hit one in the third, but nothing doing other than that. The game moved into the middle innings with the Dodgers trailing by three.

Like last week, Gonsolin pitched better as the day went along. He pitched four more scoreless innings and if there had been any offense in this one, we might be talking about that first inning very differently. But as it is, Gonsolin shouldn’t be that upset about what he did in this one: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K.

The ony thing that vaguely ressembled a rally came in the bottom of the seventh, when thanks to a double from Andy Pages and a HBP for Michael Conforto, the Dodgers had two on with just one out. But the flame was quickly snuffed out when reliever José Castillo struck out both Dalton Rushing and Kike Hernandez to end the inning.

Things went from bad to worse in the top of the eighth, thanks to You-Know-Who. New no-name Ryan Loutus was called on to pitch and sure enough, Alonso struck again this time with a light-tower-power job to left center. It was hit about as hard as you can hit a ball and not get arrested for felony assault. 112 mph. 447 feet. It was crushed. Youch!

From that point on, the Dodgers basically punted the game. Whenever Miguel Rojas is pinch-hitting for Freddie Freeman, you know that things are either going very, very right, or very, very wrong. In this case it was the latter. The team went quietly in the eighth. In the ninth, the Dodgers got a late and meaningless run on a solo homer from Andy Pages (about the only guy who did anything in this game: 3-for-4 with a double and a homer) but that was it. This loss means that the Mets have clinched the season series, regardless of the result of Thursday’s game. Hope that won’t come back to bite the Dodgers come playoff time. We’ll see.

This NYC gauntlet finally ends on Thursday afternoon, with a getaway day matinee. It’ll be Landon Knack, coming off his best start of the year, for the Dodgers and that pesky David Peterson (3-2, 4.58 ERA, 34 K), who gave the Dodgers fits last week in New York, for the Mets. Gametime will be 1:10 PDT, and then everybody hops a plane and heads to St. Louis to start a weekend set with the Cardinals. Whew! No rest for the weary, eh?

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