Game Recap: Mets Fall to .500 with 8-5 Loss to Dodgers

In a game where most Mets fans would have preferred to see Matt Harvey make his MLB debut, they settled to see Miguel Batista make the start for the injured Dillon Gee, who looked on from the New York dugout. The 41-year-old right hander struggled through his three innings of work, laboring by throwing 81 pitches. The bullpen did the best they could to hold the Dodgers and allow time for a comeback from the Mets, but it couldn’t prevent the Amazins from losing their seventh game in eight tries.

Mets Offensive Highlights:

After going down 4-0, the Mets decided to start chipping away at their current deficit in the third inning. Jordany Valdespin singled in place of Miguel Batista, followed by another single from Ruben Tejada. Then, after two outs were recorded, Scott Hairston singled to right to bring in the first run, followed by Jason Bay lining a ball to left to drive home the second. In the sixth inning, Ronny Cedeno decided to do all the work himself, as he slugged his second home run of the year (both at Citi Field) into the left field stands. There was another comeback brewing in the bottom of the eighth; Hairston led it off with a single, then scored on Daniel Murphy‘s third triple of the season. After Ike Davis lined out, Kirk Nieuwenhuisdrove Murphy home with an RBI groundout. However, that wasn’t enough for the Mets to overcome the Dodgers this afternoon in Flushing.

Dodgers Offensive Highlights:

It looked like it would be a blowout from the beginning with LA hitting in the top of the first. The damage only ended up being one run, scoring on a James Loney single, but Batista had walked the bases loaded, and was able to wiggle out of the jam by striking out Luis Cruz to end the threat. He wasn’t so lucky in the third inning, as Andre Ethier singled and scored on a Juan Uribe double. It wasn’t long until he scored as well, with Cruz doing the job this time with a single up the middle. Once Batista was out of the game, the Dodgers were able to get to Jeremy Hefner starting in the fourth. Adam Kennedy walked with two outs, then scored on a Matt Kemp triple to right. Uribe walked the next inning, then also scored with two outs thanks to Matt Treanor‘s double. Once the Mets cut the deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the eighth, LA was able to get to R.A. Dickey in the ninth, who came on in relief on his bullpen day. He allowed a single to Loney, then Uribe hit his second home run of the season, extending the lead to the eventual finale score, 8-5.

Pitching Highlights:

Batista ended up getting the loss for the Mets, his third of the year, and looked very ineffective as he threw 3 innings and gave up 5 hits, 4 runs, and 3 walks, on 2 strikeouts. Jeremy Hefner followed Batista for two innings and giving up two runs, but Josh Edgin (2 innings) and Tim Byrdak (1 inning) kept the team in the game with 3 shutout innings and 5 strikeouts between them. Dickey pitched the ninth, a situation he hasn’t been put into in years, and surrendered those two runs.

Chris Capuano was impressive once again while earning his 10th win of the season. He went 7 strong innings, giving up 8 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts. Ronald Belisario got touched up in the eighth inning during his 15th hold of the season, but for the second game in a row, Kenley Jansen shut the door on the Mets, despite walking two in the inning.

Worth Noting:

Although the Mets put together a 10-hit attack, only Hairston and Cedeno registered multi-hit games. When Valdespin singled as a pinch hitter in the fourth inning, it was his just his fifth pinch hit in over 20 at-bats, but it was the first hit that didn’t go out of the ballpark as a pinch hitter. On the eight-year anniversary of his MLB debut, David Wright went 0-for-3 with 2 walks. The biggest hits for LA came from Juan Uribe, who was 1-for-his-last-39 before his 2-hit, 4-RBI performance. Also, just in case you were wondering, Matt Harvey got hit hard, allowing 6 runs in 5 innings pitched.

The loss ensures the Mets of losing their third straight series after the All-Star break, and dropping them back to .500 at 47-47. They are 7.5 games back of Washington in the NL East, but are fading quickly in the Wild Card, as they are now 5 games behind.

Probable Pitchers Sunday:

The Mets will once again be looking to avoid the sweep, as they send Jonathon Niese (7-4, 3.58 ERA) to the mound to face off against Nathan Eovaldi (1-6, 4.33 ERA). First pitch at Citi Field is once again at 1:10pm.