Rich Hill continued to be dogged by the home run ball but the Los Angeles Dodgers not only withstood that, they stormed to an 11-4 comeback win against the New York Mets. The victory helped them keep pace with the Colorado Rockies in the National League West standings.
Not only did Hill allow at least one home run in the fifth of his last six starts, the two the Mets slugged came when he dropped down to throw sidearm. Hill lamented doing so and it resulting in a home run hit by David Peralta in his last start.
Jay Bruce’s home run gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in a second inning that could’ve been worse for Hill and the Dodgers. Brandon Nimmo doubled with one out but was stranded.
A single was followed by a two-run homer again in the third inning, with Michael Conforto taking Hill deep to right-center field. While that put the Dodgers in a 4-0 deficit, it came with the start of a strong stretch for Hill.
Todd Frazier doubled, but Hill again stranded the extra-base hit. Following Frazier’s double, the veteran southpaw retired 11 of the last 12 batters faced. Hill didn’t set the Mets down in order until the fifth inning, but did so again in the sixth.
He finished the outing with four runs allowed on four hits, including the two homers, but also struck out eight and retired the final seven batters faced.
The Dodgers did their damage against Jason Vargas in the third and fourth innings, and behind an unlikely combination sparking the comeback. In his first start since last Thursday, Chris Taylor led off the bottom of the third with a walk.
That was followed by a two-run home run from Austin Barnes, which cut the Dodgers’ deficit in half. David Freese’s first homer with the Dodgers pulled the team to within a run, and it was followed by a Kiké Hernandez single and Taylor double.
A routine groundball to third base that resulted in a Frazier error allowed the tying run to score. The Dodgers ran into an out when Barnes was easily cut down at home plate on Hill’s squeeze attempt. Though they still took the lead when Dozier beat out a would-be double play.
The wheels then came off for the Mets in the seventh inning when Turner and Machado combined for back-to-back doubles. After providing an insurance run with his double, Machado brought in another by scoring from second base on a wild pitch.
Freese added to his big night with an RBI double, scored on Hernandez’s base hit, and Yasmani Grandal’s two-run single capped off the Dodgers’ six-run inning and rout of the Mets.
