LOS ANGELES — The Mets ran into a decade-ago version of Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday, leaving them flailing at a big left-handed windmill.
Opportunities were almost nil until the seventh inning, when the Mets received their shot: Mark Canha and Jeff McNeil singled in succession.
Kershaw, almost certainly facing his last batter for the Dodgers, ran the count full to Tommy Pham.
Out came a slider that Pham swung and missed, ending both Kershaw’s and essentially the Mets’ night.
After one of their best offensive games of the season the previous night, the Mets flat-lined in a 5-0 loss at Chavez Ravine that ended their five-game winning streak.
The Mets still will have a shot at the series win in Wednesday’s matinee that features Max Scherzer and Noah Syndergaard.
The 35-year-old Kershaw, who picked up his 200th win, allowed three hits and struck out nine over his seven shutout innings.
It was a contrast to the Mets’ display on Monday, when they scored eight runs on 14 hits against talented Dustin May and the Dodgers bullpen.
“[Kershaw] threw a lot of strikes and was missing barrels and got a lot of outs really quickly,” Brandon Nimmo said. “There is a reason he is going to be a Hall of Famer. There is a reason he is still in the game and he did a very good job of working efficiently.”
Clayton Kershaw lets out a celebratory scream after striking out Tommy Pham to end the seventh inning in the Mets’ 5-0 loss to the Dodgers. APOn this night the Mets caught an unfortunate break in the eighth: pinch-hitter Brett Baty hit a line drive that Miguel Vargas snagged and turned into a double play with Francisco Alvarez off the bag at first base. Alvarez was pinch-running for Daniel Vogelbach, who had singled leading off the inning.
“We had a shot a couple of times — it looked like we were going to make a run at them,” manager Buck Showalter said. “We hit two balls hard … but we made a base-running mistake there.”
Tylor Megill wasn’t his sharpest, but managed to keep the Mets in the game.
With Carlos Carrasco (elbow inflammation) placed on the injured list before the game the likelihood is strong the Mets will need to keep Megill and David Peterson in the rotation, even when Justin Verlander is ready, possibly in the first week of May.
Megill loaded the bases in the fifth, but on his 96th and final pitch of the night retired Luke Williams to keep the Mets’ deficit at three runs.
Overall, the right-hander allowed three earned runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts.
His primary tormentor was J.D. Martinez, who delivered two homers that accounted for the three runs against him.
“Overall it was spotty with command and whatnot, but I just grinded out there,” Megill said. “More walks than I would like, but I managed to keep the damage down.”
J.D. Martinez hits a two-run homer off Tylore Megill in the first inning, the first of his two long balls in the Dodgers’ win. APMegill, a native of nearby Long Beach, was pitching at Dodger Stadium for the first time in his career. The three runs allowed were his most in four starts this season.
Martinez launched a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Dodgers an early lead.
Freddie Freeman (who homered twice the previous night) singled before Martinez cleared the center-field fence.
But Martinez wasn’t finished: with two outs in the third he homered into the right-field seats, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.
The multi-homer game was the 19th of Martinez’s career.
Megill allowed two additional runners to reach base in the inning, but with runners on second and third retired Vargas on a hard-hit ball to left field.
The Dodgers scored two insurance runs in the eighth against John Curtiss, who had a second straight rough outing.
The right-hander allowed two hits and a walk. Included was an RBI single to Martinez for his fourth RBI in the game.
The Mets wasted an early opportunity against Kershaw. Nimmo led off the game with a fly to right that Jason Heyward mishandled, turning into a three-base error.
But Nimmo got left stranded as Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso struck out in succession.
Kershaw didn’t allow his first hit until the fourth on Lindor’s infield single with one out, but the left-hander quickly retired Alonso and Canha before the Mets could gain any momentum.
