Missed opportunities and misplays on the infield cost the Dodgers in Sunday night’s series finale at Citi Field in New York, a 3-1 loss to the Mets.
After scoring a pair of runs in the 13th inning to capture Friday night’s series opener, the Dodgers scored only three runs over the final 18 innings in New York to drop the final two games.
The big news Sunday was Shohei Ohtani finally facing hitters on the mound, for the first time since his September 2023 elbow surgery. A little over hours later, and only two pitches into the game, Ohtani got the scoring started with his MLB-lead-tying 18th home run of the season.
Ohtani has 11 home runs in May, with five games remaining this month. The Dodgers franchise record for home runs in a month is 15, shared by Duke Snider in August 1953 for Brooklyn and Pedro Guerrero in June 1985 for Los Angeles.
But that was the only run of the game for the Dodgers.
The rest of the first inning was a difference in defensive execution, and the Mets gained an advantage of multiple runs because of it. With two runners in scoring position and nobody out, Sacrifice fly collector Will Smith nearly had another one with a fly ball to medium right center field, but center fielder Tyrone Taylor threw out Mookie Betts at home to neuter the threat
In the bottom of the frame, Max Muncy couldn’t field cleanly a grounder right to him, hit 99.4 mph off the bat by Juan Soto. Instead of the inning ending, that meant when Pete Alonso deposited a ball into the seats on the very next pitch, the Mets scored two runs instead of one.
Another defensive miscue in the third inning, when Betts threw wildly on a potential force out at second base, led directly to another run. In all, the Dodgers made four errors on the night.
While the Dodgers struggled making single plays, the Mets turned three double plays on defense, two of them of the traditional ground ball variety.
Landon Knack pitched a perfectly fine game, just the sixth Dodgers outing of six (or more) innings through the first 21 games of May. He struck out five and walked none, allowing only the three runs noted above, two of which were unearned.
Sunday particulars
Home runs: Shohei Ohtani (18); Pete Alonso (10)
WP — Kodai Senga (5-3): 5⅓ IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, 5 strikeouts
LP — Landon Knack (2-2): 6 IP, 4 hits, 3 runs (1 earned), 5 strikeouts
Sv — Reed Garrett (1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts
Up next
The Dodgers’ road trip shifts next to Cleveland, where Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start on Memorial Day Monday (3:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA). Right-hander Gavin Williams takes the ball for the Guardians.