The Los Angeles Dodgers are now on a two-game losing streak as they fell 4-3 to the New York Mets after extra innings in the series opener at Dodger Stadium.
Just like in their loss to the New York Yankees on Sunday, the Dodgers again struggled to generate much against an opposing starter. Paul Blackburn pitched five scoreless innings in his 2025 debut.
The right-hander was fresh off the 15-day injured list after dealing with right knee inflammation at the outset of the season. Blackburn held the Dodgers to just three hits, with one being Freddie Freeman’s swinging bunt in the bottom of the first inning.
Blackburn’s surprising effectiveness came despite the Mets not creating much separation themselves.
Francisco Lindor sent Dustin May’s second pitch of the game into the right field pavilion for his sixth leadoff home run of the season. That tied Lindor with Shohei Ohtani for most leadoff homers in 2025.
Ohtani not only failed to break their tie with his at-bat in the bottom of the first, but finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and two RBI. Ohtani’s lone hit was a solo home run in the sixth inning, but the runners he left on base in prior at-bats proved costly.
The Mets’ lead remained 1-0 until Brandon Nimmo’s ground-rule RBI double in the fifth inning. That was a fortunate break for the Dodgers as a second run would’ve scored had the ball remained in play.
May wound up stranding the bases loaded that inning after an intentional walk of Juan Soto. The two runs were all he allowed over six innings.
With the outing, May reached 61.2 innings pitched this season, which are his most in a single year since throwing 56 in 2020.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the sixth inning, only for Tommy Edman to strike out in a crucial spot on his bobblehead night.
But the Dodgers did rally to tie the game in the ninth as Edman singled and stole second, followed by Hyeseong Kim singling and Ohtani hitting a sac fly to even it up.
In extra innings, the Mets scored two against Tanner Scott, giving them a 4-2 lead. Francisco Alvarez doubled to start them off, scoring the ghost runner, and Lindor followed with an RBI-single.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Dodgers had the tying run at third base following an RBI-single from Andy Pages, but left the runner stranded.
Dodgers record vs. Mets
Monday’s loss dropped the Dodgers to just 1-3 against the Mets this season. They’ll have an opportunity to win the season series as three more games remain at Dodger Stadium, which could become a factor for MLB postseason bracket seeding.
Each of their four head-to-head meetings have been decided by three runs or fewer.
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