Chris Taylor led off the game with a solo home run, Yasiel Puig took Jacob deGrom deep in the second inning for a solo home run of his own, and that helped springboard Yu Darvish and the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-0 win over the New York Mets.
Darvish collected 10 strikeouts en route to spinning seven shutout innings. He had a stretch where 11 of 12 batters faced were retired and faced minimal trouble. One instance came in the bottom of the first when Darvish snagged a line drive off the bat of Curtis Granderson to strand a pair of runners.
deGrom led off the third with a soft single to left field, then proceeded to steal second base with one out. The stolen base was the first of deGrom’s career, but he was left in scoring position by Asdrubal Cabrera and Jay Bruce.
Darvish punctuated his three-hit shutout by striking out the side in the seventh inning. It was his fifth start this season with double-digit strikeouts.
Per Elias Sports, Darvish became the first Dodgers pitcher since 1900 with at least 10 strikeouts and no more than one walk in his first start with the team.
A byproduct of laboring to the tune of 31 pitches in the first inning, deGrom battled a high pitch count through much of the night.
He benefitted from a quick fourth inning that saw him strike out the side on 10 pitches, and was even efficient in the fifth in spite of allowing back-to-back singles to Taylor and Corey Seager with nobody out.
Though, that inning wasn’t clean for deGrom, as Justin Turner’s double play scored a run. With the Mets facing a deficit, deGrom was ultimately lifted after five innings. He allowed three runs on five hits, issued three walks and collected eight strikeouts.
The Mets bullpen failed to keep the game close, as Josh Smoker surrendered a two-run home run to Chase Utley that reached the upper deck in right field. That frustrated a rabid crowd at Citi Field that continued with their practice of showering Utley with boos.
That gave the Dodgers 18 home runs in five games against the Mets this season. Turner’s sacrifice fly in the seventh pushed the lead to 6-0. Josh Fields allowed one hit in a scoreless eighth inning and Luis Avilan worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to seal the shutout.
With their win, the Dodgers improved to 42-7 since June 7, which leaves them on the threshold of surpassing the magical 42-8 run from 2013. If there was any reason for concern Friday night, Cody Bellinger, Seager and Taylor each fouled a ball off their lower body.
Bellinger and Taylor were checked on by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and head athletic trainer Nate Lucero but remained in the game. For Taylor, that was until he gave way to Kiké Hernandez in left field in the bottom of he eighth.
