The Dodgers and Mets have split the first two games of this weekend series at Citi Field in New York, which sets up a rubber game on getaway day, or rather getaway night with this game on ESPN ‘Sunday Night Baseball.’
This is the Dodgers’ 14th three-game series of the season. Five of those have ended in sweeps, four going the Dodgers’ way (against the Tigers, Braves, Rockies, and Marlins, all at home) and another going the Angels’ way, also at Dodger Stadium.
Two more were salvage series, with the Dodgers losing the first two games in Washington D.C. before beating the Nationals on getaway day. The opposite happened in Atlanta, with the Dodgers taking the first two then losing on ‘Sunday Night Baseball’, which started the last road trip.
That leaves seven previous Dodgers three-game series in which the teams split the first two games. Here are the rubber game results, which started with two Dodgers losses followed by wins in the last five such contests:
In these rubber games, Teoscar Hernández has six hits in 17 at-bats, all of them for extra bases, hitting .353/.333/.941 with four home runs, two doubles, and nine runs batted in. He’s played in five of the seven rubber games, missing the games against the Marlins and A’s while on the injured list.
But in his first series back earlier this week, he provided all the runs the Dodgers would need with a three-run home run against Corbin Burnes on Wednesday.
Hernández faced Mets Sunday starter Kodai Senga once in 2023 with the Mariners, and in two games during last year’s NLCS. Hernández doubled once in three at-bats plus a walk and sacrifice fly against Senga. This year the Mets right-hander has a minuscule 1.43 ERA, allowing only 11 runs (eight earned) in his nine starts.
Sunday game info
Teams: Dodgers at Mets
Stadium: Citi Field, New York
Start time: 4:10 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)