It wasn’t pretty but somehow the Mets prevailed.
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The Mets somehow defeated the Dodgers by a final score of 6-4 in game that they would probably like to never see again.
This game had everything, hit batsman, walks, interference plays, home runs, the bases loaded, and a failure to cover first. The great Gary Cohen called it a glorious mess of a game which could not be more accurate.
Oh the walks. So many walks. The Mets issued 10 free passes to Dodger batters and yet somehow prevailed against a potent Los Angeles lineup. The pitching bent but did not break since the Dodgers left the bases loaded four times during the game. L.A. did manage to come back twice but Starling Marte’s three-run home run in the sixth put the team ahead for good.
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Not that the game wasn’t without drama when they took that lead. The Michael Tonkin sequel looked similar to the original. He was able to limit the damage in the fifth when he entered a first and third situation, but in the sixth he put the first two runners on in the inning and left with one out.
That lead to Drew Smith being forced to do some heavy lifting. He struck out Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded but Freddie Freeman singled to bring home two runners. Max Muncy grounded out to end the inning but not before Smith failed to cover first which meant that Pete Alonso had to dive to the bag to get the out and prevent the tying run from scoring.
The bullpen was called upon early since José Buttó was not sharp. He gave up two runs in 4.1 innings while striking out six but he also walked five and hit a batter. That was just the start of the walks.
Despite all their free passes the bullpen actually was not terrible. Edwin Díaz was called upon in the eighth to face the torturous top of the lineup and even he was not immune to the walk. He entered with Mookie Betts on base and gave up back-to-back walks to Ohtani and Freeman. After a mound visit he morphed into Edwin Díaz again and struck out both Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy to end the bases loaded threat.
Carlos Mendoza then turned to Reed Garrett in the ninth. He did his best Díaz impersonation and struck out the side to pick up his first major league save and end quite the roller coaster of a game.
As for the Mets offense Francisco Lindor bookended the day by driving in both the first and last runs. Jeff McNeil also had two hits and Marte looks like 2022 Marte again which is crucial for this team going forward. With Francisco Alvarez being out for the foreseeable future this team will need to find a way to overcome that loss, but so far this is a resilient bunch that can beat one of the best teams in the league on not their best day.
