If you were looking for a pitching duel on Sunday afternoon, you certainly got it at Citi Field. Coming into the slate of games on Sunday, the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets was probably the best matchup, and it certainly lived up to the hype.
One of the storylines heading into this game was the pitching matchup between Zack Greinke and Jacob deGrom, as they are two of the best pitchers in the game right now. However, an even bigger storyline was Greinke’s scoreless inning streak. Coming into the game, Greinke did not allow a run in his last 43.2 innings pitched, leaving him just 15.1 innings behind Orel Hershiser’s Major League record of 59 scoreless innings. And surely matching up with the New York Mets would give a good chance of extending that streak.
Greinke was able get through the first two innings rather easily, as he sat down the first six batters he faced. But things got a little dicey for him in the third inning as the Mets looked to get on the board. Greinke started off the inning poorly, as he hit Kirk Nieuwenhuis on the second pitch of the at-bat. Kevin Plawecki was up next and roped a single up the middle, and as centerfielder Joc Pederson was set to field the ball it went under his glove and Nieuwenhuis was able to advance to third.
It was first and third with no outs for New York, but they had the pitcher due up next. Jacob deGrom, who has been good with the bat this year, was asked to bunt early in the count but couldn’t get it down. On the third pitch, deGrom hit a ground ball to Adrian Gonzalez at first base, and trying to preserve the scoreless innings streak, Gonzalez chose to throw home, but Nieuwenhuis beat the throw and scored the first run of the game. Greinke’s scoreless streak was over, but now he had to refocus and get out of the inning, which he did two batters later.
While the focus was on Greinke coming into the game, Jacob deGrom certainly deserved some spotlight as well. DeGrom has been great so far this year and he continued to impress on Sunday. He had tremendous life on his fastball, and there were times that he was just blowing the ball by some of the Dodgers hitters. The young right-hander got some help as the Mets pushed their lead to 2-0 in the sixth inning when Michael Conforto was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
DeGrom breezed through the seventh inning and was sent back out to the mound in the eighth. He stuck Andre Ethier out to start the inning, but followed that with a walk to Jimmy Rollins. DeGrom was then in a battle with Alberto Callaspo, which deGrom ended up winning as he got Callaspo to ground out to first. Unfortunately for deGrom, that at-bat brought his pitch count up to 113 and would be taken out. Terry Collins brought in closer Juerys Familia to get the final out, and he did just that.
On the day, deGrom finished with 7.2 innings pitched, eight strikeouts, and only gave up two hits. He was in line for the win, needing Familia to get the final three outs. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. Familia got Howie Kendrick to ground out for the first out of the inning, but he then gave up a double to Adrian Gonzalez. Ex-Met Justin Turner was up next, and he also doubled which brought Gonzalez around to score. Turner was then pinch-runed for by Carl Crawford.
Catcher Yasmani Grandal was up next and recorded the Dodgers’ third hit in a row with a single to left, bringing around Crawford to tie the game. Familia then got Yasiel Puig to strikeout, and then Andre Either to hit a ground ball for the final out of the ninth. The Mets were certainly in a good position to win the game heading into the inning, but the Dodgers came back and forced the Mets to hit again.
New York went down quietly in the bottom half of ninth, sending the game into extra innings. Jenrry Mejia was brought in to pitch and looked to keep the game tied. He started off the inning by walking Rollins, and then allowed him to steal second. Scott Van Slyke followed with a successful bunt, moving Rollins to third with one out. Mejia needed to bear down and he certainly did. He got Joc Pederson to strikeout after a good battle, and then Howie Kendrick hit a fly ball to right where Curtis Granderson was waiting to catch it for the third out.
The Mets were in a good position heading into the bottom of the 10th, because the top of the lineup would be hitting. Granderson certainly got the inning going as he ripped a ball into right-center. Hustling out of the box, Granderson took advantage of Andre Ethier’s lackadaisical approach to get to the ball and stretched his hit into a double.
Ruben Tejada was then asked to bunt Granderson to third, but failed as he popped the bunt up. The ball wasn’t caught in the air but Granderson was forced to hold at second and couldn’t advance. Daniel Murphy was then walked, giving the Mets runners on first and second with one out. The Dodgers then went to the bullpen and brought in their closer Kenley Jansen to get the final two outs.
Jansen’s first task came against his former teammate and new Met, Juan Uribe. The Dodgers closer started the at-bat off strong, getting ahead in the count 0-2. Jansen then looked to throw his cutter inside to Uribe, but he left it over the middle of the plate and Uribe put a good swing on it. Uribe drove the ball to deep left-center and knocked it off the wall. That brought home Granderson for the game winning run.
Just two days after he was traded from the Atlanta Braves, Juan Uribe had the biggest hit of the weekend. After losing the first two games of the series on Thursday and Friday, the Mets were lucky that the Washington Nationals did the same. Both teams did, however, win both of their games on Saturday night, which meant there was still no change in the standings. But on Sunday, the Nationals lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the final game of their series, leaving the door open for New York. And as it looked like the Mets were letting a huge opportunity slip through their fingertips, they were saved by their new addition, and were able to move to just two games back in the N.L. East.