Mets 3, Dodgers 0: Ryu & deGrom deliver on duel, Kelly & Urias lose it late

Hyun-Jin Ryu and Jacob deGrom was a marquee matchup between two NL Cy Young Award competitors that always seemed like it could end up as a pitching duel. The game itself lived up to expectations with the two pitchers turning in quality outings before the Dodgers pen blew up in the 8th as they dropped the game 3-0 to the Mets.

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Ryu returned to make his first start since September 4, a rest deemed necessary by the Dodgers thanks to a string of four sub-par outings in a row. Well it certainly seemed to work, as he managed seven shutout innings, walking none and allowing just two singles while striking out six. From a stretch between the 3rd and the 7th, he retired 13 hitters in a row. Ryu never allowed a Mets runner to even get past first base.

Of course, Ryu wasn’t able to get the win, as deGrom was just as effective. He threw seven shutout as well, striking out eight and allowing just a hit by pitch and three singles.

Like Ryu, from a stretch that lasted from the 2nd to the 7th, deGrom retired a whopping 16 in a row. Unlike what Ryu did, the Dodgers did have scoring chances. In the 2nd, they stranded runners at first and second with one out, and in the 7th they had first and second with two outs. Both obviously didn’t result in runs, however.

Seth Lugo took over for deGrom in the 8th and all he did was strike out the side on 13 pitches.

Things didn’t go nearly as smoothly for the Dodgers in their half. After Adam Kolarek struck out his lefty to start the 8th, Joe Kelly followed by hitting his first batter on his first pitch before rebounding with a strikeout. Julio Urias then relieved him to get a lefty, but also hit his first batter, then issued a walk, then gave up a three-run double to Rajai Davis to make it 3-0 before getting out of things with a strikeout.

Justin Wilson then entered for the Mets to close things out and he did so in 1-2-3 fashion to end it.

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The flop drops the Dodgers to 96-54 on the year. Their NL lead over the Braves is down to just 3 games and they now trail the Yankees by 2 games in the MLB.

The rubber match will be played tomorrow at 1:00 PM HST/4:00 PM PST/7:00 PM EST with a matchup of Walker Buehler and Zack Wheeler.