Game 1 of the NLCS wasn’t the start the Mets were hoping for, dropping the opener to the Los Angeles Dodgers by getting shut out 9-0 in a game they were trailing from the first inning.
And while starter Kodai Senga’s short outing left much to be desired, New York’s offense also stalled out against right-hander Jack Flaherty who went seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out six.
Following a series against the Philadelphia Phillies where the Mets scored 23 runs in four games (after scoring 15 runs in three games against the Milwaukee Brewers), Sunday night was the first time the Mets’ offense looked totally flat with hardly any display of some of their patented late-inning magic this postseason.
It was also the first time New York had three days off between games in a long time and while the exhausted team surely benefited from the rest, could it have ruined the momentum that they had built recently?
“That energy, that drive and that momentum we feel like we can continue to sustain it,” said Starling Marte through an interpreter. “Tomorrow we can come in and turn the page and tie the series, but we’ll continue to go out there, continue to battle and come with that same confidence.
“The motivation of this team and the energy is still here and we’re not gonna lower our heads from this game, we simply have to come back and play hard and do what we know we can do.”
The Mets did have one prime scoring opportunity in the fifth inning when Jesse Winker led off with a single for the team’s first hit of the night off Flaherty and Jose Iglesias followed with a single of his own, looking like perhaps New York had the right-hander on his heels a little bit.
But on Iglesias’ hit, Winker tried going from first to third, stopping midway before starting again as the ball was thrown to second base. When Winker finally reached third base it was too late and he was tagged out for the first out of the inning.
The baserunning blunder saved Flaherty and cost the Mets a chance at getting back into the game.
“Obviously, it’s on me,” Winker said. “Whenever you get on base you kind of go through a checklist of plays and off the bat I read first to third and then I kinda just got caught in no man’s land and just didn’t want to get thrown out and it was just a really bad, bad play by me. I’ll learn from it and move forward. It’s on me.”
While not ideal, it’s hard to say the mistake on the basepaths would have changed much as New York finished with just three hits and three walks. They also made two errors in the field and looked overmatched against Los Angeles.
Still, the baserunning mistake was a bad look in a game that had few opportunities for New York.
“Obviously the baserunning play kinda takes the wind out of the potential rally, that’s what hurts the most,” Winker said.
The Mets will get another shot on Monday afternoon in Game 2 with Sean Manaea on the mound and what will be a bullpen game for the Dodgers.
It should prove to be another challenge for New York, though, as Los Angeles’ bullpen blanked the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the NLDS (another bullpen game) and again in relief of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 5. In fact, the Dodgers’ pitching staff has recorded 33 consecutive scoreless innings since the second inning of Game 3 in San Diego.
Luckily for the Mets, they “can turn the page quickly.”
“We’re gonna continue to come out with the same confidence and the same work ethic,” Marte said. “That’s just what the game is sometimes, whoever scores the most ends up winning so we’re gonna have to come in tomorrow and we’re gonna have to battle the way that we’re accustomed to doing and with the same confidence that we’ve had before this game started.”
Added Winker: “It’s a long series. It’s one game. We’ll keep pushing forward.”
