In perhaps their most feel-good win of the season, the Mets responded to an early ejection of Max Scherzer with important contributions from several players that resulted in a 5-3 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
As a result, the Mets won the series, taking two of three games, and are 5-1 on their current road trip.
Here are the takeaways...
1) The bullpen saved the day, giving the Mets six strong innings after Scherzer was ejected – apparently for using a substance on his hand/glove that umpires deemed illegal.
Five relievers combined to allow the Dodgers three runs after Scherzer was gone.
Jimmy Yacabonis, a low-leverage reliever recently called up from the minors, was the unsung hero, allowing one run over 2 2/3 innings. He was followed by Jeff Brigham and Drew Smith, getting the game to the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead.
David Robertson pitched the eighth because of the Dodgers’ lefty hitters at the top of the order, and while he allowed his first run of the season, he worked out of trouble, getting two pop-ups to leave runners at second and third with the Mets clinging to a 3-2 lead.
After the offense added two insurance runs, Adam Ottavino closed out the ninth, despite allowing a home run to David Peralta.
2) Brandon Nimmo had a spectacular day at the plate, going 5-for-5 that included a two-run home run off former Met Noah Syndergaard in the fifth inning. With four singles in addition to the home run, Nimmo raised his batting average to .349 for the season.
Throw in the three highlight-reel catches he’s made in the last few days and he’s having a spectacular road trip.
The Mets added a run in the eighth inning when Francisco Lindor doubled, Pete Alonso singled and Tommy Pham delivered a sacrifice fly to right field.
After the Dodgers cut the Mets’ lead to 3-2, Mark Canha provided much needed insurance with a two-run double in the ninth.
3) Scherzer was ejected between the third and fourth innings as umpires checked his hand/glove for the second consecutive inning. Scherzer got into an animated discussion with umpire Phil Cuzzi and then reacted angrily when Cuzzi ejected him, spinning around and screaming in disagreement.
According to SNY’s sideline reporter Steve Gelbs, Scherzer was repeatedly telling Cuzzi, and then other umpires that got involved in the discussion: “It’s just rosin.”
Since last year when MLB cracked down on pitchers using sticky substances, they routinely check pitchers’ hands between innings. Last weekend umpires told Yankees’ starter Domingo German to wash his hands after apparently determining that the rosin he was using had become too sticky, then told him again the next inning, which prompted Minnesota Twins’ manager Rocco Baldelli to get ejected for arguing that German should have been ejected.
Scherzer had started to look like his old self, retiring eight straight hitters after the Dodgers loaded the bases in the first inning. For the day he allowed one hit and two walks, no runs, over three innings.
4) Pitching against his old team for the first time, Syndergaard delivered a strong start, allowing two runs on four hits over six innings.
Syndergaard came in with a 5.63 ERA but had pitched solidly in two of his three starts.
He doesn’t have the overpowering velocity he featured in his younger days with the Mets, when he routinely threw 99-100 mph, but he was effective using a 93 mph two-seamer that he sinks, and a change-up that has become perhaps his primary out pitch.
However, a hanging change-up was his one big mistake pitch that Nimmo launched for a two-run home run in the fifth inning to right-center that went 431 feet.
5) Starling Marte was removed from the game as the Mets took the field for the bottom of the sixth, prompting speculation about a possible leg injury. Marte had grounded out three times to that point, twice into double plays, and each time he ran at less than full speed to first base.
Marte had core surgery related to a groin strain during the offseason, and the Mets have wanted him to run at less than 100 percent in obvious-out situations.