Shohei Ohtani offered a temporary reprieve on Sunday.
Before the game, he had been touring a large crowd in a visitor dugout at Citifield since undergoing Tommy John revision surgery in 2023, and hit two batters in five at-bats.
Four and a half hours later, the two-way star was charming with his bat, belting out a second-deck leadoff blast in the first innings with Mets Ace and fellow Japanese star Kodai Senga, tied a major league lead with 18 home runs of the season.
“We thought it brought us to life,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Alas, that won’t last, the Dodgers will instead quiet the rest of the night to the New York Mets.
They were doomed by a bad defense early, and the Mets scored three early runs with the help of two Dodgers errors. They later became frustrated by wasted opportunities at the plate and bumped into three double plays in the second straight game.
Last year’s National League Championship Series weekend rematch sent the team to a series loss. They also dropped 3-6 in their final nine games and 9-11 in their final 20 games.
Truly, outside of the 8-0 start of the season, they’ve been a little better than the .500 team, and have since gone 24-21 (even though a 7-game winning streak mixes).
And they’re still number one in the NL West, chasing only the Philadelphia Phillies, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees for their best records in baseball, but they don’t play like a team that’s close to that distinction.
“Tonight was one of those nights when we just gave them an extra out and they took advantage of it,” Roberts said.
“It was pretty frustrating,” repeated the three-base master Max Muncie. “Shoot yourself with your foot.”
There were no more self-harmful wounds than what Munsi suffered at the bottom of the first one.
After starting two strikeout innings from Landon Nack, Juan Soto hit the sharp grounder in third place.
It was the eighth error of Muncie’s season, second and second among MLB’s third basemen, and first did not come to the slow.
“That’s one of the things I really aren’t good defensively right now,” Muncie said. “I’m not going to move away from that, but all I can do is keep showing up every day, working on it, trying to understand things, trying to get better. That’s what I’m doing.”
But on Sunday there was nothing Muncie could do.
After one pitch, Pete Alonso hit a curveball hanging from the knack for a two-run homer. The Mets (32-21) didn’t waste the lead the rest of the way.
“We were trying to drop it a bit, but obviously we left it behind,” Nack said. “I think he’s a runner and a little more aggressive so I could take advantage of that.”
Muncy stared stoically into the distance as Alonso rounded up the base.
“It makes me feel like the game is on your shoulders. That’s at least what I feel,” Muncie said. “It’s a play that needs to be made, and I should have made it. It’s just frustrating.”
But there were many other moments, and the Dodgers (32-21) shook their head.
After Otani’s lead homer, their attacks had the opportunity to add more. Mookie Betts reached an error. Freddie Freeman moved him to third place with a double. When Will Smith followed the flyball to center field, it was deep enough for the bet to break for the house. At least it’s how it looked.
Instead, Mets Center fielder Tyron Taylor took a strike on the plate. And after Betts was first determined to be safe on the first slide of his foot, the Mets Challenge overturned Cole. The chance to build an early breathing chamber for the tricks was gone. And despite repeated opportunities to return later, the Dodgers failed to hurt other things on the entire plate.
In the four innings, Freeman hit a leadoff single…just Smith grounds the double play right away.
Later in the innings, Tescal Hernandez doubled and Muncie walked to board two ships. Only Andy Page hit a dead deep fly ball on the warning track on the left.
Fifth, the Dodgers created the best chance against Senga…just to guide the two outgrounders who ended the threat from Smith.
On the sixth time, Muncie pulled one walk… the Dodgers’ 42nd (5th in the majors) this season, just to have Page rolled into another double play.
“I think this story has a good offensive approach because we just have to play clean baseball and we’re going to see good pitching,” Roberts said, saying the Dodgers are in the middle of a 29-game stretch outside of a playoff contention team.
“The right case is that Shohai didn’t get his fifth at-bat (tonight) because they played and got some double plays and stuff like that, all of that matters.
The Mets have scored only other runs against Knack, delivering the club’s 14th sixth start of the season. Turning one on, Mark Bientos hit the middle hard ground where Betts had impressively reached from a short stop. But then Betts showed fireproofness on a flip to Nibase, sailing the ball over the head of teammate Tommy Edman and putting the runner in the corner. The next at-bat was chosen by a fielder from Soto.
The 3-1 deficit proved too much for the Dodgers to overcome. It ends a day that began with so much optimism about Ohatani’s two-way talent, with the loss of his performance in Queens and the annoying series.
