Mets routed again as Dodgers claim NLCS Game 3, take 2-1 series lead
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor reacts after striking out swinging to end the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Citi Field on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Inning after inning, swing after swing, the Mets’ fly balls kept dying at the warning track Wednesday. And thus so did their hopes in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series.
The Mets lost to the Dodgers, 8-0, on a night of almosts that became a blowout at Citi Field.
Pete Alonso almost tied the score in the third inning with a would-be home run, in-reality a flyout to deep leftfield, seemingly knocked down by a strong wind blowing in all game. Mark Vientos almost woke up the Queens crowd in the fifth with a shot to centerfield that carried far enough to get over the wall — had this game been at Dodger Stadium. Jose Iglesias almost beat out his rally-squashing double play in the sixth, but Freddie Freeman’s nifty scoop ended the Mets’ last real chance.
Altogether, the mix of bad luck and bad hitting created another quiet night at the plate for the Mets, who were shut out for the second time in three games. They totaled four hits. And they stranded eight runners on base, including six in the first three innings, when they whiffed on a couple of potential game-swinging moments.
The Dodgers lead the best-of-seven series, 2-1, heading into Game 4 on Thursday.
“Stay the course,” Francisco Lindor said.
Reed Garrett said: “We got beat 9-0 in the first game and we came back and won Game 2. I don’t see why there’s a reason why we can’t do that tomorrow. Everybody believes in ourselves.”
This one loomed large for both clubs, perhaps even more so than usual for a Game 3 in a knotted series. The Mets now must contend with Los Angeles’ best two starting pitchers the next two nights: Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Thursday and Jack Flaherty on Friday. They will counter with Jose Quintana and a to-be-announced arm, perhaps Kodai Senga.
Don’t expect changes to the Mets’ lineup for Game 4, despite their struggles. Manager Carlos Mendoza said intends to stack the batting order with righthanded hitters, who this season have fared significantly better than lefties against Yamamoto, even though he is a righty. That means playing the quieter-lately Jose Iglesias and J.D. Martinez over Jeff McNeil and Jesse Winker.
And Mendoza very much plans to stick with catcher Francisco Alvarez, who struck out looking three times (and lost his bat on a swing) Wednesday. He is batting .143 with a .310 OPS in the playoffs.
“He’ll come through for us,” Mendoza said.
The Dodgers did not encounter the same offensive problems as the Mets. No. 9 hitter Enrique Hernandez eked a two-out, two-strike, two-run home run through the wind and over the leftfield wall against Garrett in the sixth, doubling the Mets’ deficit. And Shohei Ohtani turned it into a blowout with a three-run homer — halfway up the second deck — just fair in rightfield against Tylor Megill in the eighth.
Ohtani’s blast sent many of the announced 43,883 in attendance headed for the exits.
“They hit it out. Just not us,” Lindor said. “I felt like I had quality at-bats, just didn’t get any hits, you know?”
Alonso said: “I thought we had pretty good at-bats for the most part. But yeah. Just didn’t do it tonight.”
Alonso’s shot in the third was the one that most deked the crowd, which exploded at bat-on-ball contact. And Vientos’ was the one that went farthest — 388 feet, only an estimated 9 feet shorter than Ohtani’s moonshot — and the one Mendoza thought had a chance.
“That ball a month ago is a homer,” Mendoza said, referencing the chillier New York weather. “But it’s nothing new for us. We will continue to hit the ball hard. Our job is to control the strike zone and hit the ball hard. And today we hit a few of them and they caught it at the warning track.”
Alonso said of his close call: “I know I hit it well, but I didn’t hit it perfect . . . I’ve hit balls like that that have gone out, but that’s a 50-50 one. Just didn’t hit it perfectly flush.”
Starting pitchers Luis Severino (4 2⁄3 innings, two runs, none earned) and Walker Buehler (four scoreless innings) similarly grinded into the middle of the game, each working into and out of several jams, fortunate their final lines weren’t uglier.
Los Angeles scored a pair of runs against Severino in the second, when he issued a leadoff walk to Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernandez hit a dribbler in front of the plate. The latter play was key. Alvarez fielded it and, instead of throwing to first for an easy out, fired to second to try to get the lead runner. The throw went into Muncy — an error on Alvarez — and everybody was safe.
The next two batters sent grounders back to Severino, who turned them into a combined one out.
“If we made plays, things probably would’ve been a little different,” Lindor said.
Severino, a Gold Glove finalist, said: “My glove messed everything up in that inning.”
The Mets turned two walks and Iglesias’ infield single into a bases-loaded, one-out change in the second. But Buehler wiggled away by striking out Alvarez and Lindor, who swung and missed at a knuckle-curveball.
“It was a good pitch,” Lindor said. “I don’t want to say I got surprised, But it was a really good pitch.”
Mendoza said: “I like the fact that we are getting guys on base. Just haven’t been able to come up with a big hit but I’ll continue to take my chances with guys. As long as we continue to create traffic, somebody’s going to come up and get that big one for us.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
