Mets' winning streak comes to an end with blowout loss to Dodgers
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts, right, tags out the Mets' Harrison Bader, who was trying to steal second base, during the third inning of a game in Los Angeles on Sunday. Credit: AP/Kyusung Gong
LOS ANGELES — And on the seventh day, the Mets lost.
Their six-game winning streak came to a screeching halt Sunday afternoon with a 10-0 loss to the Dodgers. A rare stinker from a starting pitcher — Adrian Houser got rocked for eight runs in four innings-plus — yielded a missed opportunity for a sweep of one of the National League’s perceived superteams.
Dodgers righthander Tyler Glasnow, meanwhile, provided as strong a pitching performance as the Mets have faced all season: eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. He scattered seven hits.
Nonetheless, the Mets (12-9) head to San Francisco as winners of 12 of their last 16 games and five consecutive series.
“We’re still trying to win every game we can, but we’ve been playing good baseball lately,” Jeff McNeil said. “So I don’t want to say it makes it easier, but . . . we know we’re a good team.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza said: “Overall a good series. Move on to the next one.”
Aside from Shohei Ohtani’s two-run homer in the third, Houser was fine until he faced the top of the Dodgers’ order for a third time. In the fifth inning, he gave up six runs without recording an out.
During that game-deciding sequence, Mookie Betts lined an RBI single to center. Ohtani smacked a ground ball off Houser to load the bases with none out and Freddie Freeman and Will Smith had back-to-back two-run doubles. Andy Pages added a three-run homer off Grant Hartwig later in the inning.
By the end of the fifth, the Dodgers (13-11) had 10 runs and the Mets had 15 at-bats.
“I need to be able to get some quick outs there and be able to keep the team in the ballgame,” Houser said. “These guys have been playing great. I’m letting them down right now. I can’t be doing that.”
Mendoza said: “The first four innings, I thought he was OK.”
Houser averaged 2.7 walks per nine innings last season. This year, it’s more than double that. He said he doesn’t know why that is happening.
“That’s what’s really hurting me right now,” he said. “Giving them too many opportunities on base without making them put the ball in play.”
Tomas Nido became the first Mets catcher to throw out a would-be base-stealer when he nabbed Smith trying to take second in the third inning. The Mets had been 0-for-28 in that category, the worst mark in the majors.
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.
