Mets ride three-run seventh past Dodgers for fifth consecutive win
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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers won the shock-and-awe competition Monday night, with balls exploding off bats and three shots disappearing behind the outfield fence.
Not as aesthetically pleasing were the Mets’ protracted innings of keeping the line moving, but that is what ultimately carried them to an 8-6 victory before 50,313 at Dodger Stadium.
A seventh inning in which they sent nine batters to the plate and scored three runs spring-boarded the Mets to a fifth straight victory.
The Mets also scored three runs in the fourth inning, without the benefit of an extra-base hit.
“We are passing the baton,” Francisco Lindor said. “We are not scared of not being successful in the moment, because the guy behind us could do it too and that is when we are at our best.”
Daniel Vogelbach drove in three runs — two of them with his first homer of the season — and Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil each went 3-for-5, leading the offensive attack.
Brett Baty, in his season debut for the Mets, finished 1-for-4 with an RBI single in the fourth inning.
The Dodgers rallied to put runners on second and third with one out in the eighth, but Brooks Raley retired Max Muncy before Drew Smith entered and struck out Miguel Vargas to escape.
Adam Ottavino recorded the save with a perfect ninth.
The game seesawed, with the Mets taking control in the seventh inning on four hits and a balk for three runs.
After Tomas Nido, Nimmo and Starling Marte loaded the bases by delivering successive singles to start the inning, reliever Phil Bickford was called for a balk on his first pitch, forcing in a run.
Lindor’s RBI groundout gave the Mets a 7-6 lead and Alonso delivered an RBI single before the inning was complete.
“We seemed to answer every time they answered, so this was a good back-and-forth game,” manager Buck Showalter said.
David Peterson appeared to have turned the corner after struggling early.
Then the Dodgers’ third turn through the batting order arrived, and Peterson got smoked, surrendering homers to Freddie Freeman and Muncy. Overall, the left-hander allowed six earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.
Freeman, who habitually tormented the Mets during his Braves years, blasted two homers on the night that accounted for three runs.
Muncy’s solo rocket in the sixth put the Dodgers ahead 6-5.
“I think I definitely left some [pitches] more over the plate than I wanted to and didn’t get into the spot,” Peterson said. “Those guys are good hitters and did what they are supposed to with them.”
In the first inning Freeman cleared the fence in right-center to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. In the fifth he hit a two-run blast to left-center, tying it 5-5.
Freeman’s homers gave him 30 in his career against the Mets.
Last season — his first with the Dodgers — Freeman failed to homer against the Mets.
Dustin May, who entered with a 1.47 ERA in three starts this season, struggled to contain the Mets.
The right-hander lasted 5 ²/₃ innings and allowed five earned runs on eight hits with only one strikeout.
Vogelbach’s two-run homer in the second gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.
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Alonso singled leading off the inning, but was erased as part of McNeil’s double-play grounder.
Mark Canha followed with a grounder through the second base hole before Vogelbach cleared the left-field fence.
“Everybody knows [May] has got real good stuff,” Vogelbach said. “I was just trying to be aggressive in a certain spot and just trying to hit something hard.”
But the Dodgers struck against Peterson in the bottom of the inning to go ahead 3-2.
Austin Wynns stroked a two-out double for two runs after Muncy and Trayce Thompson had each singled in the inning.
The Mets reclaimed the lead in the fourth.
McNeil delivered an RBI single after Lindor was hit by a pitch and Alonso walked, before Vogelbach’s RBI groundout staked the Mets to a 4-3 lead.
Baty, batting with two outs and McNeil on third, extended the lead with an RBI single to right.
Baty faced lefty Alex Vesia in the sixth and struck out with runners on first and second.
McNeil had doubled and pinch-hitter Tommy Pham was intentionally walked with two outs before Baty’s whiff ended the threat.
In the seventh Baty faced another left-hander, Justin Bruihl, and was retired with the bases loaded for the final out.
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