Steve Webb
NEW YORK, NY — Poor Timmy Trumpet. The Mets brought the dude all the way to Citi Field, hoping that he’d be able to play the now-iconic walkout song “Narco” as Edwin Diaz came in from the bullpen to save a Mets victory over the Dodgers. But, thing is, in order to save a game, you actually have to be, you know.. ahead. But for a brief 1-0 lead early in the game, the Mets were playing from behind all night, and Diaz never got called upon. Instead, the Dodgers won the game 4-3 and Timmy Trumpet was silent.
Rocky start for Heaney, but escapes with only one across
After a quiet top of the first off New York starter Taijuan Walker, the Mets jumped on Andrew Heaney quickly in the bottom of the inning. Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a seemingly harmless single, but things spiraled out of control pretty quickly. Batting second, Starling Marte laid down a bunt that Heaney fielded on the first base line. He should have just let the ball roll foul and gone back to work against Marte.
Instead, Heaney tried a throw to first that was very ill-advised. Freddie Freeman wasn’t able to come up with it as the ball sailed by the Dodgers’ first baseman and bounded into right field. By the time Mookie Betts collected the errant throw, the speedy Nimmo had circled the bases and scored the first run of the game. Marte, meanwhile, was already on third. Thanks to a baserunning blunder and a strikeout, they didn’t get any more in that inning, but the Dodgers would have to win this one with another comeback.
Dodgers rally to take lead
In the top of the third, the Dodgers put together a nice inning to move into a lead. Batting out of the nine-hole, Austin Barnes ripped an opposite-field single into right. That turned over the lineup and brought up the hot-hitting Mookie Betts. The change in zip code did nothing to cool Mookie down. He picked up right where he left off in Miami, banging a solid double into left. Dino Ebel held Barnes at third, but the Dodgers were in business with nobody out.
Then, the rally seemed to fizzle a bit when Walker retired both Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman with no runs scored. However, suddenly Walker lost the plate. First, he walked Max Muncy to load up the bases. Then, he plunked Joey Gallo with a pitch to tie the game. With the bases still loaded, Gavin Lux dug in with an RBI chance.
Having seen limited duty during this road trip due to a stiff neck, Lux wasted no time in this AB. On the first pitch he saw from Walker, Lux went opposite field and ripped a solid single into left. With the runners off with the pitch, both Betts and Muncy scored and the Dodgers were up 3-1.
Long balls tie the game
If there are two things that have defined Andrew Heaney’s mound time of late, they are strikeouts and home runs. And both were full on display on Tuesday night. Heaney struck out eight Mets on the night, some in very big spots. However, he also gave up two home runs in this one. One to Starling Marte in the third and another to Mark Canha in the fourth.
But luckily, they were both solo shots, so while it wasn’t fantastic that he got roughed up like that, it was a best case scenario. After the Canha blast, Heaney lasted one more inning, and exited the game on the hook for just the two homers. Among the highlights of his performance have to be the three strikeouts of Mets slugger Pete Alonso, who did so much damage back in Dodger Stadium in May. But not in this one. Instead, Alonso just couldn’t lay off Heaney’s high heat, and went down swinging three times, leaving a total of five runners on base in the game. Heaney’s line for the night: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K.
Freeman’s hustle, Lux’s clutch provide the difference
With the score tied, it was up to the Dodgers’ bullpen to keep it close, and up to the Dodgers’ hitters to push a run across. Both did just that. Newcomer Heath Hembree pitched a scoreless 6th inning. Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips took care of the 7th and the 8th. That gave the Dodgers the chance they needed to win this one. And in the top of the 7th, they struck.
Freddie Freeman led off with an opposite field hustle double that put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Max Muncy played a little small ball and moved Freeman to third with a groundout to the right side. Then, Buck Showalter played the odds and walked the righty pinch-hitter Will Smith to pitch to the lefty Gavin Lux with his left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez. Lux worked the count full, but on the eighth pitch of the at-bat, he got a pitch that he could handle. He reached out to grab a low changeup and rip it over the head of Rodriguez into centerfield. Freeman easily scored on the play and Lux pounded his helmet at first having driven in three of the Dodgers four runs.
Reed gets first save
The two teams traded zeroes in the 8th, and after a scoreless top of the 9th, Dave Roberts tapped recent call-up Jake Reed to get the final three outs of the game. With the pen a little taxed from the Miami series, some of the usual suspects were not in the ballgame. Instead it was Reed, who hadn’t pitched for the Dodgers in a month. Things got off to a bit of a dicey start for the righty when Eduardo Escobar drilled a single into center for a leadoff hit. And they looked even dicier when Reed went to a three-ball count to pinch hitter Daniel Vogelbach.
But Vogelbach bailed Reed out. He swung at a pitch out of the zone and hit a bouncer to Max Muncy on the right side of the infield. Muncy tagged Escobar and threw to first to easily retire the lumbering Vogelbach. Double play. Leadoff man Brandon Nimmo then hit a little comebacker to Reed. Reed knocked the ball down and tossed it to Freddie Freeman for the final out, thus recording Reed’s first MLB save. As the rain poured down over Citi Field, Reed celebrated with his teammates, knowing that he had just pitched the biggest game of his short Dodger career.
And sorry, Timmy Trumpet. Maybe tomorrow.
Dodgers get their first look at deGrom
Now that the appetizer is out of the way, the Dodgers and the Mets move on to the marquee match-up of the series on Wednesday. It will be Jacob deGrom, about whom so much ink has been spilled of late, against our own Tyler Anderson. Anderson has proved time and time again to be a lot more hard-nosed than people give him credit for. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to all the extra eyeballs that are sure to be on this game. First pitch time is 4:10 pm, PDT.
Cans of Corn…
- Lots of moves today — Bickford and Grove both optioned to OKC. In their places come relievers Jake Reed, who got the save, and Heath Hembree, who got the win. Talk about instant results!
- To make room for Hembree on the 40-man roster, infielder Eddie Alvarez was designated for assignment. Hope he can catch on somewhere. I like that guy.
- As hinted at earlier, Kersh will be making the start in the series finale. It’s a 1:00 pm start on the West Coast. Keep the expectations low on this one, I’d say.
