No baserunners in the first three innings. No hits in the first four. And no runs for nine. The Mets’ offense could only muster three singles in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles.
The top five in the order – Francisco Lindor, Mark Vientos, Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Starling Marte – went a combined 0-for-17 with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Manager Carlos Mendoza credited Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, who threw seven scoreless with six strikeouts, two hits and two walks.
“He was getting ahead with his fastball and then the slider, the breaking ball,” Mendoza told reporters post-game. “That slow curveball kept us off balance, but he was getting ahead and making pitches. He was trying to make us chase, which we did, the first time through the order. Then he was just on. He was locating his pitches and he did a good job.”
“He pitched really well,” said Jesse Winker, who had one of the two hits off Flaherty. “He was controlling his fastball, controlling his off-speed pitches, had good tempo. We just couldn’t really get him off his rhythm. You know, hats off to him. He did his thing tonight.”
The Mets entered Game 1 averaging 5.4 runs per game in the playoffs. Alonso had four hits in the last three games, Vientos tallied ten hits in his last four contests and Lindor was starting to find his groove again at the plate. Did three days off between winning the NLDS and Game 1 cause the bats to go cold? Yet they were all shut down on Sunday night.
“I don’t think so,” Winker said. “I just think we ran into a really good pitcher who pitched well and a good lineup who scored and I just think tonight they had a great night. And tomorrow we’ll come back and keep going forward.”
The Dodgers pitching staff tossed two shutouts to close out their NLDS against the San Diego Padres and have now hurled a record-tying 33 consecutive scoreless postseason innings.
Looking for a bright side? The last three times the Mets were shut out, they won the next game, including Game 1 of the Wild Card series in Milwaukee.
“We know it’s a long series,” Winker said. “And you know, it’s one game and we’ll keep pushing forward.”
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