LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers pitching plans in Game 2 blew up by the second inning, and the Mets returned the favor with a 7-3 win on Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium to even the National League Championship Series at one game apiece.
Gone was the record 33-inning scoreless streak, snapped with a home run by Francisco Lindor to lead off the game off designated opener Ryan Brasier.
The plan for Monday was less of a bullpen game and more wanting Landon Knack to pitch bulk innings somewhere in the middle of the game. He followed Brasier directly to enter the second, and simply didn’t have it.
Knack needed 55 pitches to get six outs, got only three swinging strikes. He had the unfortunate combination of a lack of command, with two unintentional walks (plus one intentional) and leaving too many balls in the middle of the plate. Five different balls were hit off Knack with an exit velocity over 100 mph.
One of those was by Mark Vientos, who hit a dead-central fastball over the wall in right center field for a grand slam to put the Mets up 6-0, a stunning counterpunch after the Dodgers won 9-0 in Game 1.
Knack also loaded the bases in the third inning but escaped without allowing another run. On the Fox broadcast, manager Dave Roberts told Ken Rosenthal that Knack was “gassed” and would be coming out after just two innings, with five runs allowed.
Plans changed with Knack’s ineffective outing. Rather than a string of high-leverage relievers to follow, instead it was Anthony Banda for one inning. But they still needed to fill innings, and Brent Honeywell provided. Added to the NLCS roster after his time on the injured list lapsed, Honeywell pitched three scoreless innings in his first career postseason game, giving the bats a chance to climb back into the game.
The offense took a while to get going, as Sean Manaea dominated the Dodgers lineup through the first five innings, allowing only a solo home run by Max Muncy to that point.
Manaea has a career 7.09 ERA in 47 career innings against the Dodgers, though the bulk of that damage came in 2022 while with the Padres (11.72 ERA in 17⅔ innings). The left-hander has a 3.45 ERA in three games against Los Angeles in the last two regular seasons, and this year revamped his delivery.
“Manaea is a different pitcher than we’ve seen in the past, dropping his arm angle, and so it’s a different kind of look,” Roberts said before the game. “A little Chris Sale-ish.”
Manaea himself ran out of gas in the sixth with two walks and a 99.7-mph hard grounder by Freddie Freeman that could have been a double play ball had it not been bobbled by second baseman Jose Iglesias. The Dodgers had the bases loaded with nobody out, and cashed in two on a single by Tommy Edman to pull within 6-3.
After a walk loaded the bases again, any hope for more in the inning was dashed by a double play grounder from Kiké Hernández.
An Edman single and Muncy walk in the eighth put two runners on with two out, which necessitated Mets closer Edwin Díaz to enter before the ninth inning. Hernández represented the tying run at the plate, but flew out to right field on a sweeper over the middle of the plate.
In all, the Dodgers managed only five hits in the game, though they did walk eight times.
Edgardo Henriquez allowed an insurance run to the Mets in the ninth, but pitched the final two innings. If there is any silver lining to Monday’s loss, it’s that by trailing by at least three runs the entire time after the second inning, Banda and Brasier were the only two high-leverage relievers used by the Dodgers in the loss. So they’ll have a full complement of rested arms to back the starters in New York.
NLCS Game 2 particulars
Home runs: Max Muncy (1); Francisco Lindor (2), Mark Vientos (3)
WP — Sean Manaea (2-0): 5+ IP, 2 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP — Ryan Brasier (1-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk
Sv — Edwin Díaz (2): 1⅓ IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts
Up next
Walker Buehler gets the start for the Dodgers in Game 3 on Wednesday in New York (5:08 p.m. PT, FS1). Right-hander Luis Severino will start for the Mets at home.
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