Rich Hill surrendered a home run on his second pitch of the game to Curtis Granderson, but the Los Angeles Dodgers erased their early deficit and went on for an 8-2 victory over the New York Mets. Yasmani Grandal led the Dodgers with two home runs, while Yasiel Puig had three RBI.
Mets rookie Tyler Pill didn’t allow a hit through three innings, yet oddly couldn’t prevent the Dodgers from tying the game. Joc Pederson’s leadoff walk in the third was followed by a T.J. Rivera throwing error that left runners on second and third base with nobody out. Hill’s sacrifice fly tied the game.
Cody Bellinger’s hustle double to lead off the bottom of the fourth was good for the Dodgers’ first hit. Logan Forsythe’s RBI double broke the tie, and Puig’s three-run home run extended the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1.
It came with some controversy, as Mets first baseman Wilmer Flores and catcher Travis d’Arnaud took exception with Puig’s admiration for his home run and slow trot.
Flores yelled in Puig’s direction as he rounded first base, which drew a response, while the exchange between d’Arnaud and Puig appeared to be more mild.
Grandal’s solo home runs in the sixth and eighth innings capped put the game well out of reach. The home runs gave Grandal nine this season and three in the past two games against the Mets. Austin Barnes’ pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth was the last of the Dodgers’ scoring.
The fifth straight game with at least eight runs scored set a Los Angeles record and tied a franchise record.
Hill managed to limit the Mets to just the one run over five frames, but nonetheless was on the wrong side of history. He became the first pitcher to complete five innings or less in each of his first nine starts of a season.
The Mets’ biggest threat came in the fourth inning when they loaded the bases with nobody out by way of a leadoff walk, single and Chase Utley error on a dropped fly ball. But Hill, who had largely settled in up to that point by using a new cutter/slider, struck out the next three batters faced.
He issued a pair of two-out walks in the fifth before retiring d’Arnaud. Hill threw 98 pitches and finished with a season-high eight strikeouts.
In his first action since returning from a sprained ankle that forced him to the disabled list, Sergio Romo collected two strikeouts en route to retiring the side in order in the sixth. Grant Dayton matched Romo’s effort by bookending a 1-2-3 seventh inning with strikeouts.
Brandon Morrow, recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday, allowed a leadoff double to Yoenis Cespedes in the eighth before also striking out a pair to produce a third scoreless inning by the Dodgers bullpen.
Luis Avilan didn’t become a fourth reliever with two strikeouts on the night, and he also surrendered a run — on a Granderson two-out double — before sealing up the win.
The Dodgers matched their season-best six-game winning streak and move a half-game ahead of the Colorado Rockies in the National League West standings.
