The Los Angeles Dodgers provided an immediate indication that the NLCS is going to be a completely different animal for the New York Mets, hammering them 9-0 in Game 1 on Sunday night from Dodger Stadium.
While Los Angeles’ loaded lineup jumped all over starting pitcher Kodai Senga and reliever David Peterson, the Mets were stymied by Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, who allowed just two hits and two walks over seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts. They recorded just three hits all night.
It was the largest postseason shutout loss in Mets history and the eighth time ever that the franchise was blanked in a playoff game.
Mookie Betts drove in three, Max Muncy posted two RBI, and Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-4 with an RBI double.
The Mets fell into a 3-0 hole after Senga struggled with his command. The veteran right-hander lasted just 1.1 innings — short of his three-inning mandate — allowing three of the four men he walked to score while allowing two hits with zero strikeouts.
He walked the bases loaded with one out in the first before Muncy drove in a pair with a two-out single to center. Ohtani then drove Gavin Lux, who walked, with a single with one out in the second, ending Senga’s day.
“He was off, he didn’t have it,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t have the life on his fastball and there were a lot of balls coming out of his hand. A lot of non-competitive pitches, especially the split [finger]. You could tell by the way [the Dodgers] were taking those pitches, they were balls out of hand.
The Dodgers tacked three more on in the fourth off David Peterson, who had been a stalwart of the Mets’ bullpen in the opening two rounds. After a pair of opposite-field singles from Kike Hernandez and Tommy Edman. Lux sacrificed Hernandez into scoring position with a bunt before Edman punched.
Ohtani then ripped a 117 mph double off the right-field fence that scored Edman from first. He came around to score on Freddie Freeman’s two-out single to left.
The Mets had to wait until the fifth inning just to collect their first hits of the night. Jesse Winker led off the frame with a single, but ran the Mets out of it when Jose Iglesias followed with a lunging bloop to left field.
Winker could have easily made it to third, but inexplicably pulled up 20 feet from second base and hesitated before the throw coming in behind him forced him to resume a pursuit to third. He was thrown out comfortably. Flaherty retired the next two Mets with ease.
It was the 29th consecutive scoreless inning thrown by the Dodgers this postseason dating back to Game 4 of the NLDS, setting a new National League record that was previously held by the New York Giants in the 1905 World Series.
That streak extended to 33 in total as Flaherty got through seven scoreless innings on 98 pitches before handing it off to Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius. It matches the all-time postseason record for consecutive scoreless innings with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers opened the floodgates in the bottom of the eighth off Jose Butto when Betts cleared the loaded bases with a three-run double down the left-field line.
