The Los Angeles Dodgers going back to a bullpen game for the second time in the past five days didn’t produce nearly the same results as they suffered a 7-3 loss to the New York Mets, evening the National League Championship Series.
Playing under an afternoon sky at Dodger Stadium on Monday afternoon, the Dodgers bullpen struggled from the get-go as Ryan Brasier and Francisco Lindor locked horns on a long at-bat.
It ended with Lindor hitting a leadoff home run that snapped the Dodgers’ postseason scoreless innings streak at 33. That left them tied with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the MLB record of longest shutout streak in a single postseason.
More trouble ensued in the second inning as Landon Knack didn’t have any command of secondary pitches. He nearly managed to minimize the damage to a Tyrone Taylor RBI double, but intentionally walking Lindor to load the bases with two outs set up a Mark Vientos grand slam.
The home run was Vientos’ third of the postseason and came on the ninth pitch of his at-bat. That also gave Vientos 11 RBI this October, which is one shy of tying the Mets postseason record that’s shared by John Olerud (1999) and Curtis Granderson (2015).
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game the plan was for Knack to “take down most of the outs today.” However, the right-hander managed to complete just two innings.
As the Mets broke the game open, Sean Manaea reversed career trends against the Dodgers as he flummoxed them behind a revamped arm slot that resembles that of presumptive 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale.
Manaea held the Dodgers to three runs (two earned) over five-plus innings. The Dodgers didn’t score until Max Muncy’s solo home run in the fifth inning.
Manaea then ran into some self-inflicted trouble in the sixth as he issued back-to-back walks to begin the inning. That brought in Phil Maton, who was let down by his defense.
Freddie Freeman’s grounder to second base was booted by Jose Iglesias, leaving the bases loaded with one out. Then Tommy Edman’s chopper to the right side went off Pete Alonso’s glove and rolled into right field for a two-run single.
Poor Mets defense nearly struck again when Vientos juggled a grounder but they still managed to turn an inning-ending double play on Kiké Hernández.
Brent Honeywell saved the Dodgers bullpen with three scoreless innings, helping ease some of the sting in a losing effort as that could have implications moving forward with the NLCS shifting to Citi Field for three games.
The Dodgers put the first two batters on base in the bottom of the ninth inning but Edwin Díaz completed the four-out save.
Dodgers NLCS schedule
Game 3: Wednesday, Oct. 16, 5:08 p.m. PT, Citi Field, FS1
Game 4: Thursday, Oct. 17, 5:08 p.m. PT, Citi Field, FS1
Game 5: Friday, Oct. 18, 2:08 p.m. PT, Citi Field, FS1
Game 6*: Sunday, Oct. 20, 5:08 p.m. PT, Dodger Stadium, FS1
Game 7*: Monday, Oct. 21, 5:08 p.m. PT, Dodger Stadium, Fox and FS1
*if necessary
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