LOS ANGELES — Road kill on the 405 freeway has shown only slightly less life over the last two days than this Mets lineup.
About now the Mets could use a game against the Phillies or Nationals, two teams they utterly destroyed on the last homestand. But the schedule says they have to face the Dodgers and an unrelenting pitching staff.
A night after getting shut out for the first time this season the Mets managed only a Pete Alonso solo homer Friday in a 6-1 loss to the Dodgers before 52,505 at Chavez Ravine. The Mets lost a second straight game for only the third time this season.
If the Mets need an excuse, two cross-country flights in a week — the team played in San Francisco on the last road trip — may not have helped the cause.
“I don’t know if you can attribute that to what’s going on now,” Mark Canha said. “But it must play some kind of role, I could imagine. It’s a little tough coming across the country and not having an off day and time change and ‘Hey you are playing the next day.’ That could be an easy way to explain it, but probably not the best as an athlete and a competitor. We always expect a lot out of ourselves regardless of the situation. … It’s tough.”
Mookie Betts rounds second base after stealing second base and advancing to third on a wild pitch during the Mets’ 5-1 loss to the Dodgers. AP
Francisco Lindor returned to the lineup after missing the previous game with a fractured right middle finger (he jammed his hand in the double doors in his hotel suite Wednesday night) and went 0-for-4 to end his streak of 10 straight games with at least one RBI. Lindor had an opportunity to deliver in the eighth with two runners on base, but grounded out against Daniel Hudson to end the inning.
Mookie Betts hit a grounder to Lindor leading off the game for the Dodgers and was thrown out. Lindor also was tested later in the game and received a save from Alonso at first base.
“I haven’t anticipated a ground ball that much in years,” Lindor said, referring to Betts’ grounder leading off the first. “I knew the first ground ball was going to come to me.”
Chris Bassitt allowed two two-run homers that accounted for the Dodgers’ scoring against him over six innings. One of the runs was unearned.
“Two bad pitches and with this lineup that is basically all that it takes,” Bassitt said.
The Mets (35-19) still have eight games remaining on this West Coast trip and could use at least a decent showing against playoff-caliber teams to dispel the notion they aren’t merely a product of a weak NL East schedule. The Mets still lead the Braves by 8 ½ games in the division.
Pete Alonso accepts congratulations from J.D. Davis (left) after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning of the Mets’ loss. APAfter 15 scoreless innings to begin this series, the Mets finally broke through in the seventh on Alonso’s leadoff homer against Yency Almonte. The homer was Alonso’s team-leading 14th of the season and gave him 48 RBIs.
Left-hander Tyler Anderson muzzled the Mets over six innings in which he allowed three hits and struck out five. A night earlier the Mets received a similar reception from Tony Gonsolin, who fired six shutout innings. Walker Buehler and Julio Urias are on deck for the Dodgers, who have hardly resembled the team that got swept three games by the Pirates before the Mets arrived.
Cody Bellinger blasted a two-run homer in the second that gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Justin Turner singled leading off the inning before Bellinger hit a cutter into the right-field seats for his sixth homer of the season.
In the fourth, Bellinger reached on Eduardo Escobar’s error leading off the inning. Zach McKinstry, with one out, hit the Dodgers’ second homer of the game. It was the seventh blast allowed by Bassitt in his last four starts. He had allowed only four homers in his previous seven starts.
“The outings get magnified when you aren’t scoring any runs,” Buck Showalter said.
Trea Turner’s infield RBI single in the seventh extended the Dodgers’ lead to 5-1 after Betts singled against Joely Rodriguez and stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch by Stephen Nogosek. Chris Taylor blasted a two-out homer in the eighth against Nogosek to complete the Dodgers’ scoring. The run was the first allowed by Nogosek in six appearances this season.
The Mets received a leadoff single from J.D. Davis in the fifth, but hopes of a rally were short-lived; Canha hit into a double play ahead of an Escobar single. Anderson retired Jeff McNeil to end the inning.
