Jason Vargas gave the Mets his best outing of the season, but they couldn't get their bats going in 2-0 loss to Dodgers on Thursday night. >> Box score
Six things to know about Thursday's game
1) The Dodgers jumped on Vargas right out of the gates. Chris Taylor led off the game with a triple on a diving effort from J.D. Davis. The next batter, Max Muncy, doubled him home to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead before Vargas could record an out. But to the lefty's credit, he settled down after the rocky start, giving the Mets a strong seven innings of work (his longest outing of the season), allowing just one run.
2) After the Mets had a good night at the plate on Wednesday, Thursday was a different story. Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu continued his impressive season with 7.2 innings pitched, allowing just three hits while striking out seven. Ryu improved to 8-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 1.48.
3) Pete Alonso led off the seventh inning with a double off of Ryu, looking to spark some late-inning offense. He was left stranded at second, however, as Ryu retired Todd Frazier, Carlos Gomez, and Adeiny Hechavarria in order to retire the side.
4) Kiké Hernandez provided the Dodgers with a key insurance run in the eighth, blooping a single to right field off of Hector Santiago to score David Freese, who had doubled earlier in the inning.
5) The Mets snapped a streak of 10-straight games of scoring four runs or more. The last time the Mets were held below four runs was their 3-0 loss to the Marlins on May 19th.
6) The Dodgers have simply had the Mets' number over the past few seasons. The Mets are now just 3-16 against the Dodgers since May 28th,2016.
What's next
A trip to Arizona is up next for the Mets, beginning on Friday at 9:40 p.m. RHP Zack Wheeler (4-3, 4.63 ERA) toes the rubber for the Mets, while the Diamondbacks will start RHP Jon Duplantier (1-0, 2.25 ERA), who has been used solely as a reliever this season.