The Los Angeles Dodgers hung on against the New York Mets, 3-2, to extend their winning streak to eight games and improve to 12-1 in their last 13. They also received help from the Oakland Athletics and are just 1.5 games back of the San Francisco Giants in the National League West.
The Dodgers took an early lead Friday night behind a combination of slugging and manufacturing a run. After Trea Turner led off the bottom of the first inning with a hustle double, he advanced to third base on deep fly out to center field, and scored on Justin Turner’s groundout.
Trea Turner set the table again in the third inning with his one-out single cashed in by Max Muncy’s RBI double. Justin Turner walked to put Muncy in scoring position, and Corey Seager drove him in with an RBI base hit.
Carlos Carrasco and the Mets bullpen held Dodgers quiet from there as Seager’s single was their last baserunner of the game, but Walker Buehler turned in another dominant outing and his longest start of the year at 7.2 innings.
He’s now gone at least six innings in all but one of his 25 starts this season, and a minimum of seven frames in 11 of those.
A hit by pitch and single put two on with nobody out in the second inning, but Buehler locked in and retired the next three batters faced to wiggle out of the small jam. Pete Alonso did get the Mets on the board with a leadoff home run in the fourth inning, and a single followed.
Buehler then proceeded to retire 12 batters in a row until Patrick Mazeika led off the eighth inning with a base hit on the first pitch he saw. That led to some trouble as an infield single put runners at the corners on with one out.
Buehler got a generous call to go his way on a strikeout, but couldn’t get through the inning as Alonso drove in a run on a swinging bunt. Buehler was upset with two called balls in the at-bat and was ejected by home-plate umpire Nestor Ceja after being removed.
Dodgers bullpen remains stout
Alex Vesia inherited two runners from Buehler and issued a walk to load the bases before freezing J.D. Davis to end the inning. The Dodgers failed to get any insurance in the bottom of the eighth, but Kenley Jansen was able to convert the save without issue.
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