Mets blown out again by Dodgers in NLCS Game 4, now one loss away from elimination
Pinch hitter Jesse Winker #3 of the Mets reacts after flying out to end the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers with the bases loaded in Game 4 of the NLCS at Citi Field on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
A season marked by so much fun, drama and improbable success may be entering its final day.
The Mets’ 10-2 loss to the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night pushed them to the brink of elimination for the second time this month, this time against a club that has looked very deserving of the best-team-in-the-majors mantle it earned in the regular season.
Los Angeles’ top two hitters, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, tormented Mets pitchers for a gaudy combined final line: 5-for-9 with two home runs, three walks, five RBIs and seven runs.
With the Dodgers owning a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, the Mets’ scenarios are straightforward, if not easy: Win three in a row — beginning with Game 5 at 5 p.m. Friday at Citi Field — to advance to the World Series. Or lose one more game and go home for the winter.
The Mets will start lefthander David Peterson (with Kodai Senga available in the bullpen) opposite Dodgers righthander Jack Flaherty.
“If we come back from this,” Brandon Nimmo said, “then it’s going to be a heck of a story.”
And so the Mets will have to do one more time what they have done periodically all year: Save the season. After opening 0-5, bottoming out at 11 games under .500 in early June, skidding in August, threatening to blow their primo playoff positioning in late September and nearly making an immediate postseason exit in Milwaukee two weeks ago, they figured it out at each juncture, transforming into these chaotic comeback darlings who have advanced further than anybody involved realistically expected.
In the history of MLB’s seven-game Championship Series, teams that have gone up 3-1 have won 82% of the time (37-8). The Mets’ odds are long, but not longer than getting here to begin with.
The key, J.D. Martinez said, is to steal back the momentum the Dodgers have held virtually the entire series, blowing out the Mets three times in four games (and outscoring them 30-9 in the process). It doesn’t much matter what that momentum-grabbing looks like, as long as it happens.
“We’ve had our backs against the wall this whole time, so this isn’t new to us,” Nimmo said. “But it’s very real. You lose one game and you’re done.”
Pete Alonso said: “Having our backs against the walls pretty consistently throughout the year, it’s taught us a lot about our character and who we are in our identity as a team. We’re a super-resilient bunch. We’ve had to pretty much answer the bell all year, and it’s no different now.”
They were less resilient Thursday, stranding 12 runners and going 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The game came to be defined by a pair of half-innings: the top of the fourth and the bottom of the sixth; they came up small both times.
The Mets trailed by one when they sent Jose Quintana back to the mound for the fourth, trying to squeeze a couple of additional outs, maybe a whole extra inning, from the lefthander. He departed after allowing two of three batters to reach base.
Manager Carlos Mendoza made his first big call of the night, bringing in righthander Jose Butto — who has fallen so far down the depth chart that he was relegated to mop-up duty in Game 1 — instead of a higher-leverage option such as Ryne Stanek or Phil Maton.
Butto’s first batter, Betts, lined a double to leftfield. Nimmo just about got to the ball but couldn’t stop it from rolling all the way to the wall, the first clear case of the plantar fasciitis in his left foot — which makes it difficult for him to slow down from running and, in this case, picking up the ball — costing the Mets. Two runs scored easily.
“I’m going as fast as I can out there,” Nimmo said. “I just wasn’t able to cut it off.”
When Mendoza later pulled Butto in the sixth, he opted for Maton, who faced the same first batter, Betts, who hit a two-run home run.
The Mets had a chance to make it interesting in the sixth, loading the bases with none out. But Jose Iglesias (strikeout swinging), Jeff McNeil (flyout) and pinch hitter Jesse Winker (flyout) went down in order. Winker’s drive briefly put a jolt into the sellout crowd of 43,882 — looking for a grand slam that would have turned it into a one-run game — but it died well short of the wall.
Quintana gave up five runs in 3 1⁄3 innings. In the previous eight weeks, he allowed four runs.
The primary problem for him: He lives on the edges of the strike zone, getting opposing hitters to chase balls, but the Dodgers don’t fall for that. Quintana issued four walks
“This is a team that controls the strike zone as well as anybody in the league,” Mendoza said. “They forced Quintana to come in the strike zone. And when he did, they made him pay.”
The first sign of trouble came immediately. Ohtani launched Quintana’s second pitch of the game 422 feet to right-centerfield for a home run. It came off his bat at 118 mph.
The Mets answered with Mark Vientos’ solo shot in the bottom of the first but managed little else against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He gave up two runs in 4 1⁄3 innings.
They hope it’ll be different next time.
“If you have no belief, you shouldn’t be here,” Francisco Lindor said. “You gotta believe.”
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.
