National League Divisional Series
New York Mets at Los Angeles Dodgers
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The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers started the National League Divisional Series on Friday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Mets took the season series, four games to three, but those games were back in July. These games mean much more than the mid-summer ones.
Clayton Kershaw took the hill for the Dodgers. Kershaw was 16-7 with a 2.13 ERA and a Major League leading 301 strikeouts. He faced Jacob deGrom of the Mets. DeGrom finished 2015 with a 14-8 record, a 2.54 ERA, and 205 strikeouts.
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Curtis Granderson crushed the first pitch he saw, but it was right at Andre Ethier. Kershaw walked David Wright, but came back to strike out Yoenis Cespedes and Daniel Murphy to end the top of the first.
DeGrom started out by striking out Carl Crawford. Howie Kendrick poked a single to right field to become the game’s first baserunner. DeGrom would then strike out Corey Seager and Adrian Gonzalez to end the first inning.
Lucas Duda hit one off of Kershaw’s foot for a one-out single, but Kershaw got Michael Cuddyer and Ruben Tejada to strike out swingning. Justin Turner led off the bottom of the second with a double to left field. After striking out Andre Ethier and A.J. Ellis, deGrom intentionally walked Joc Pederson to face Kershaw. The strategy worked, as Kershaw struck out swinging to strand runners at first and second.
The Mets finally opened the scoring in fourth inning. Murphy led off by hitting a 2-0 fastball from Kershaw into the Mets bullpen. Kershaw came back to strike out the next two batters before Cuddyer flied out to center to end the inning.
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The Dodgers had a pair of singles in the bottom of the fourth, but deGrom struck out Ethier and induced fly ball outs from Pederson and Kershaw to end the threat.
Duda walked to lead off the seventh inning and moved over to second on a ground out by Cuddyer. That got the Dodger bullpen to start getting ready. Ruben Tejada drew a walk, bringing up deGrom for a sacrifice bunt attempt, which deGrom performed to perfection to bring up Granderson with runners at second and third with two outs. Granderson walked to load the bases, prompting Don Mattingly to bring in Pedro Baez to relieve Kershaw.
Wright worked a full count before singling to center to drive in Duda and Tejada. Cespedes struck out to end the inning, but not before the Mets took a 3-0 lead.
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Kershaw finished the day with 6 2/3 innings pitched, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks while striking out 11.
Tyler Clippard came in to pitch in the eighth inning for deGrom, who finished with seven shutout innings, giving up five hits and a walk, and he struck out 13.
Howie Kendrick hit a one-out double to center field, and was driven in one batter later when Gonzalez hit a two-out single to left field.
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Jeurys Familia came in to relieve Clippard with two outs and a runner on first. Familia got Turner to line out to first to end the inning. The Mets went into the ninth inning with a 3-1 lead.
Chris Hatcher came in to pitch in the ninth inning for the Dodgers and did his job. The Mets went down quietly, 1-2-3, to keep the deficit to two runs.
Familia was back out for the bottom of the ninth looking for a four-out save. He worked a clean 1-2-3 inning, taking the last out himself. The Mets won Game 1 by the score of 3-1.
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Player of the Game: Jacob deGrom
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DeGrom pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just five hits and a walk while striking out 13. He threw 121 pitches, 79 of them for strikes. He mowed the Dodgers down and gave the Mets exactly what they needed to win this game.
NLDS Game 2 (Mets lead 1-0)
Game 2 will be on Saturday at 9 pm at Dodger Stadium. Noah Syndergaard will be pitching for the Mets while Zack Greinke will take the mound for the Dodgers. Syndergaard has a 9-7 record and a 3.24 ERA, and his last start was a seven inning outing where he gave up a run on two hits and had 10 strikeouts. Greinke is a Cy Young candidate with a 19-3 record and a league leading 1.66 ERA.