Oliver Perez made his return to the Mets rotation, and proceeded to walk seven men in five innings. Throw in four hits, and the Dodgers averaged just over a couple runners on per inning. Plenty of chances to score, right?
Well, right... but it didn't happen. A total of 12 men were left on the night, and the Mets finally showed some offensive life to taking the win, 5-4.
The Dodgers did get the first run to start the game. Rafael Furcal walked on four pitches to lead off. He was forced out by Orlando Hudson's fielder's choice. Casey Blake also walked for two on, and Mark Loretta, playing first for James Loney against the lefty, singled for the 1-0 lead.
The Mets battled back to score their first run since Saturday. Jeremy Reed doubled with one down, and Luis Castillo's infield single tied the game at one.
In the third, the Mets would have a long inning that pretty much wore out Hiroki Kuroda. David Wright snapped an 0-for-17 slump with an RBI single for the 2-1 lead. An error by Casey Blake, something you rarely see, allowed another run to score, and Reed's RBI single made it 4-1.
The next inning, the Dodgers got a run back, but they also blew more chances for more. Raffy's RBI single to score Matt Kemp made it 4-2. But, Hudson grounded into a double play, and that was that.
A big insurance run was added by the Mets in the fifth, which chased Kuroda. Brian Schneider hit an RBI single with the bases loaded for the 5-2 advantage. Cory Wade came in and put out the flames with a groundout and strikeout, so the game was still in striking distance.
Raffy added an RBI groundout in the eighth to make it 5-3. In the ninth, it was time for Francisco Rodriguez, who immediately was greeted by a solo homer from Manny Ramirez. Blake walked, and it looked like the Dodgers had something going.
But going along with their theme from the rest of the night, they just couldn't get that one more bit hit. Loretta struck out, but Russell Martin singled. Andre Ethier had a chance to avenge and 0-for-4 night... and then promptly grounded into a DP to end the game. Ouch.
Ethier has had a great season, with plenty of walk-off hits already. But Wednesday night is one he'd love to forget. He struck out to lead off the second, lined out with the bases loaded to end the third, flied out to leave two on to end the fifth, flied out to leave one on to end the seventh, and grounded into a double play to end the game. I hope he doesn't watch a replay of this game.
As wild as Perez was, he got the big outs when he needed. Kuroda, on the other hand, never looked comfortable. He lasted 4 and 1/3 innings, eight hits, five runs (four earned), two walks, and one strikeout. The bullpen of Wade, Guillermo Mota, Brent Leach, and Ramon Troncoso kept the game close, but the offense couldn't come through.
The final game of this series is tonight, as the veterans of Randy Wolf and Livan Hernandez take the mound. Wolf pitched great last outing against the Padres but received a (wait for it, wait for it...........) no-decision. But you never would have guessed that would happen!
No comments:
Post a Comment