One pitch after Colon snagged a Yasiel Puig line drive for the first out in the fourth inning, he gave up a line-drive double to Pederson. Kendrick lined out to deep right field allowing, Pederson to tag, where he was stranded as Ellis was called out on strikes.
Neil Walker ended Kershaw’s string of consecutive batters retired at 11 with a two-out double to left field in the bottom of the fourth. Nothing came of it, with Kershaw painting the black to get called strike three on Juan Lagares.
There was a brief scare in the fifth inning as Kershaw struck himself on the neck with the barrel of the bat on his follow-through swing. Kershaw didn’t make it out of the batter’s box on a grounder, but walked back to the dugout without issue.
The Dodgers mounted a two-out rally behind a trio of singles from Seager, Turner and Gonzalez, with the last of the three driving in a run. The Mets didn’t find any success in the bottom of the fifth with Flores, Kevin Plawecki and Eric Campbell going down in order.
Asdrubal Cabrera got the Mets on the board with two outs in the bottom of the sixth by lifting a Kershaw curveball for a solo home run to left field. Turner drew a two-out walk in the seventh and stole second base without drawing a throw.
Antonio Bastardo went to a full count against Gonzalez before getting him to fly out. Kershaw appeared to show some sign of fatigue in the bottom of the seventh, falling behind in the count to Walker and Lagares.
He retired both, however, with Ellis selling a foul-tip strikeout call that in actuality hit the dirt. Flores popped out on the first pitch he saw to end the inning. Pederson reached with one out on an error, but was stranded by Kendrick and Ellis.
While Carl Crawford was on deck to bat for Kershaw if Ellis extended the inning, the left-handed ace returned to the mound to start the bottom of the eighth having already thrown 105 pitches in the game.
He allowed a leadoff single, then retired the next two batters. Kershaw’s nice came to an end as he was removed, along with Kendrick, in a double switch that brought on Adam Liberatore and Kiké Hernandez.
It was the first time this season Kershaw was removed mid-inning. Liberatore fell behind in the count to Granderson and gave up an RBI triple that tied the game.
Jeurys Familia got himself into trouble in the ninth inning, allowing a leadoff single to Hernandez and issuing a pair of one-out walks to load the bases.
Gonzalez made him pay for it, muscling an inside fastball into center for a two-run single that gave the Dodgers a 4-2 lead. Kenley Jansen picked up a strikeout as he retired the side in order to convert the save.
