The Mets’ wild ride of a season ended on Sunday night in Los Angeles, losing 10-5 to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS, as Sean Manaea was ineffective and the offense failed in cash in on several scoring opportunities.
As a result, the Mets lost the series 4-2, meaning the Dodgers advance to play the Yankees in the World Series.
Here are some takeaways…
– The Mets’ offense had plenty of chances for big innings against some of the seven pitchers the Dodgers used in a bullpen game, but they couldn’t get any clutch hits. Through six innings they were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and had left 11 runners on base.
Their last best chance came in the sixth, trailing 6-3, when they loaded the bases with two outs against right-handed reliever Evan Phillips, with a hot Jesse Winker at the plate. However, Winker only managed a blooper to left that Teoscar Hernandez caught on the run to end the inning.
They did manage to add a run in the seventh on Francisco Alvarez’s sacrifice fly and one in the ninth on Jeff McNeil’s RBI single. They wound up going 2-for-9 w/RISP and left 13 runners on base.
– Manaea didn’t have it from the start. Most notably he didn’t have the late life on his fastball that has made him so dominant since he adopted the Chris Sale-like sidearm delivery, and it cost him quickly.
Leaning on his off-speed stuff early, he gave up a two-run double to Tommy Edman in the first inning on a sweeper that caught too much plate. The telltale sign was the home run Manaea gave up to Edman in the third inning on a fastball at the top of the strike zone, where he has mostly been unhittable for the last couple of months.
At that point it was 4-1, Dodgers, and Carlos Mendoza left him in to pitch to lefty Max Muncy, but when Manaea walked him, the manager pulled him.
– Phil Maton relieved Manaea and he gave up a two-run home run to Will Smith to give the Dodgers a 6-1 lead after three innings. It’s certainly fair to question the use of Maton there, as ineffective as he has been lately.
– Mark Vientos gave the Mets life with a two-run home run in the fourth inning off Ryan Brasier, cutting the Dodgers’ lead to 6-3. For Vientos it was his fifth home run of this postseason, which tied him with Giancarlo Stanton for the most by any player — he leads everyone with 18 hits and 14 RBI.
– In a desperation move to keep the game close, Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the fourth inning, and he got what he wanted when the Mets’ closer got through two scoreless innings while allowing only one baserunner on a walk to keep the game at 6-3. Diaz hadn’t pitched in the fourth inning of a game since 2016, his rookie season with the Seattle Mariners.
– Mendoza continued the go-for-broke strategy by using Ryne Stanek next, but Stanek wasn’t effective after getting seven outs in Game 6. Reed Garrett limited the damage to one run and at that point it was anybody’s guess who would close if the Mets pulled off another miracle comeback.
– Kodai Senga finally made his second appearance of the series, coming on for the seventh inning. Senga was ineffective starting Game 1 in what was a questionable decision at the time, and the Mets had shied away from using him again until they were pretty much out of other options. And for good reason, as it turned out.
Senga got through a scoreless seventh but gave up three runs in the eighth to let the game get out of reach. Most notably he walked Shohei Ohtani, gave up an RBI-double to Mookie Betts and a run-scoring single by Kike Hernandez.
Game MVP: Tommy Edman
Edman doesn’t profile as a clean-up hitter, but that’s where he was hitting in Game 6 and he looked the part, delivering a two-run double in the first inning and a two-run home run in the third to give the Dodgers a comfortable lead early.
