Dodgers Fall to Mets 2-1 As Offense Goes Cold
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —The Los Angeles Dodgers turned to their ace Clayton Kershaw to get a win in the opening game of a three game series with the New York Mets that began on Friday night.
The Mets countered with 22 year-old sensation Noah Syndergaard on the mound against the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner.
The Dodgers would take the lead early in the 2nd inning when Adrian Gonzalez hit his 14th home run of the year to deep center field off Syndergaard.
After the Gonzalez home run however, Syndergaard would settle down and not allow another run in his six innings of work. He struck out six while only giving up two hits.
Kershaw was equally impressive, only giving up an RBI single to Wilmer Flores in the 4th inning in seven innings of work. Kershaw allowed five hits and struck out seven while walking two batters. He threw 102 pitches compared to Syndergaards 107 pitches.
The Dodgers offensive woes when Kershaw is pitching continued tonight, as they were only able to plate one and Kershaw was saddled with yet another no decision. The game would come down to both of the teams' bullpens as both pitchers did not factor into the decision.
Over the last eight starts, Kershaw has an ERA of just 1.78 over 55 2/3 innings pitched while registering 74 strikeouts in that span.
The Dodgers pinch-hit Alex Guerrero for Kershaw in the bottom of the 7th inning but he would pop up to first base to end the inning as Mets reliever Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless inning to keep Kershaw from his 6th win. In just his fourth appearance for the Dodgers since returning from the Disabled List on June 26th, Pedro Baez pitched a scoreless 8th inning to lower his ERA to 3.26.
Robles would stay in for the 8th and and pitch another scoreless inning getting Joc Pederson, Howie Kendrick and Justin Turner out in order.
Dodger closer Kenley Jansen would enter in the 9th inning in a 1-1 ballgame in a non save situation and allowed a lead off bloop double to start the inning by Lucas Duda. Wilmer Flores would hit a comebacker off of Jansens' glove to put runners on first and third with no outs.
Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki then hit a sacrifice fly to score Duda and to give the Mets a 2-1 lead in the top of the 9th.
Jansen would get out of the 9th inning with just surrendering the one run, but that would prove to be the difference in the game.
Mets manager Terry Collins summoned his closer, Jeurys Familia, into the game to try and notch his 22nd save of the season.
Adrian Gonzalez led off the inning with a strikeout, followed by a Yasiel Puig fly out. Familia would close out the game by getting Andre Ethier to line out to right field.
Hansel Robles picked up the win as Kenley Jansen was saddled with his first loss of the 2015 season.
The Dodgers could only muster three hits in Friday's contest and struck out ten times as a team.
The Dodgers would fall to 45-36 while the Mets improved to 41-40 on the season. With the San Francisco Giants losing tonight in to the Nationals, the Dodgers remain 3 1/2 games above their rivals.
Tomorrow the Dodgers will send Zach Greinke to the mound against Mets ace Matt Harvey in tomorrows contest as the Dodgers look to even the series. The game tomorrow begins at 4:15 followed by a fireworks show after the game.
