Mets vs. Dodgers Recap: Mets beat Kershaw, Bellinger beats the Mets

The long balls were flying on the left coast last night as the Dodgers defeated the Mets. Both teams combined for eight total home runs, but the Mets most notably hit four against Clayton Kershaw, a first for the superstar pitcher’s career. Despite that, a poor, short outing from Zack Wheeler sent the Mets to a loss in the opening game of their four-game series in Los Angeles.

Wheeler found himself in trouble early in the first inning, allowing a leadoff ground rule double to the most hated man in Flushing, Chase Utley. A Corey Seager single would move Utley to third, and a single from Justin Turner plated him. With two men on base, rookie phenom Cody Bellinger hit his 20th home run to put the Dodgers up 4-0. Bellinger now shares the lead in National League home runs with the Brewer’s Eric Thames and only needed 189 at bats to do so.

The second inning didn’t start off much better for Wheeler, as he allowed a leadoff single to Kershaw. He retired the first two batters at the top of the order only to surrender a two-run home run to Justin Turner. Not to be outdone, Cody Bellinger hit another home run to put L.A. ahead 7-0.

Wheeler was removed before the bottom of the third inning and was replaced by Rafael Montero, who continued his recent success by turning in three-and-two-thirds innings while allowing three hits and striking out an impressive five batters.

The Mets began to claw their way back in the third and fourth innings, with Jose Reyes and Jay Bruce hitting solo home runs. Gavin Cecchini, who was almost confusingly placed into the lineup by Terry Collins, hit his first major league home run, a two-run shot off Clayton Kershaw in the fifth inning to cut the Dodgers lead to three.

Montero was chased from the game in sixth, as Justin Turner hit an RBI single to score Utley. Montero was relieved by Josh Edgin, who collected one out to end the frame.

Reyes continued his power streak in the seventh, hitting his second home run of the night, a two-run shot off Clayton Kershaw that finally chased him from the game.

With the bullpen now in full control of the game, Fernando Salas entered in the seventh inning and allowed a solo home run to Chris Taylor and an RBI single to Chase Utley to give the Dodgers a 10-6 lead.

Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, and Travis d’Arnaud loaded the bases in the eighth inning and sent Jose Reyes to the plate with two outs—only for Reyes to strike out against Chris Hatcher.

The Mets are now 31-38 on the season, and trail the division leading Washington Nationals by 10.5 games. Robert Gsellman will take the mound tonight for the Mets against the Dodgers’ Brandon McCarthy.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
True Blue LA

Box scores

ESPN
MLB

Win Probability Added

Fangraphs

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Travis d’Arnaud +5.5% WPA, Jose Reyes +4.1% WPA
Big losers: Zack Wheeler -39.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jose Reyes hits a two-run home run, +8.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Cody Bellinger hits a three-run home run, -15% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -46.1% WPA
Total batter WPA: -3.9% WPA
GWRBI!: Chase Utley