Mets keep 3.0 games back in Wild Card race thanks to Rajai Davis' clutch hit in 3-0 win vs. Dodgers. >> Box score
Five Takeaways from Saturday's game
1) Rajai Davis, the hero we all expected. In what went down as the Mets' final at-bat, the 38-year-old vet was called off the bench and delivered as a pinch hitter in the eighth. Both Todd Frazier and Brandon Nimmo were hit by pitches to start the rally, then Amed Rosario walked to load the bases. Due up was pitcher Seth Lugo, but skipper Mickey Callaway subbed in Davis, a righty hitter against lefty hurler Julio Urias. Battling through the plate appearance, fouling off two pitches, Davis pulled a double to left field, which cleared the bases, scoring all three base runners.
2) Jacob deGrom brought his best in a Cy Young quality meeting against Hyun-Jin Ryu. He didn't get the decision, but deGrom tossed 101 pitches over seven innings, allowing only three hits while striking out eight. DeGrom forced the Dodgers into a number of ground outs, 11 in total. The ace saved his best for last, too. The Dodgers did end up getting two men on with two outs in the seventh with back-to-back singles by Corey Seager and AJ Pollock, however, deGrom neutralized the threat by striking out Gavin Lux.
3) Pulling Lugo for Davis would seem like an obvious choice, but had to have been a tough decision for Callaway. Appearing in the eighth inning, Lugo brought his A-game. Lugo struck out the side, which included Russell Martin, Edwin Rios and Joc Pederson, respectively. Since Lugo was subbed out for Davis, Justin Wilson came in and provided another strong bullpen appearance, sending the Dodgers down 1-2-3 in the ninth with a strikeout for the save.
4) The Mets' offense went to sleep from the third inning until the eigth inning. Rosario singled to left field in the third frame. The Mets didn't get another base running until the eigth inning. Four Mets players were punched out by Ryu in that stretch.
5) Pete Alonso had trouble getting things going once again for the Mets. He went 0-for-3 at the dish with one strikeout against the Dodgers. Coming into the game, Alonso was riding an 0-for-13 stretch.
Highlights
RAJAI DAVIS WITH A THREE-RUN DOUBLE
- SNY (@SNYtv) September 15, 2019
METS LEAD 3-0
AHHHHHHHHHHH (us, in the office, but also all of Citi Field rn) pic.twitter.com/k16hGHNTe2
What's next
The Mets and Dodgers round out their series on Sunday Night Baseball. Zack Wheeler (11-7, 4.21 ERA) will face off against Walker Buehler (13-3, 3.14 ERA) at Citi Field, with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.