New York Mets offense comes alive to force Game 6 of NLCS against Los Angeles Dodgers
By Jacob Lev, CNN
(CNN) — Another game, another blowout.
This time it was the New York Mets who bombarded the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-6 to force a Game 6 in the NLCS best-of-seven series.
Despite the losses in Game 3 and 4 in front of the home crowd, the Mets faithful at Citi Field were up to the task on Friday, and it wasn’t only because of The Temptations’ performance of ‘My Girl’ ahead of the first pitch.
Mets’ first baseman Pete Alonso wasted no time and launched a three-run home run in the first inning to give New York an early 3-0 lead.
The Dodgers would tack on a run in the second inning but that did not stop the New York offense from continuing to pile on the runs.
A five-run third inning had Mets fans turning the stadium into one big party as the lead increased to 8-1.
The Dodgers didn’t fade and cut into the lead after an Andy Pages solo home run, but yet again, the Mets responded with a two-run fourth inning to make it a 10-2 game.
The Mets bullpen has struggled most of the series and those same struggles continued on Friday.
After the Mets pulled starting pitcher David Peterson after 3.2 innings, relief pitcher Reed Garrett came into the game and promptly gave up a three-run home run to Pages, his second of the night to make it 10-5.
Garrett was eventually pulled for Ryne Stanek, who struck out Shohei Ohtani to stop the bleeding, much to the delight of the cheering fans.
However, the LA offense refused to go down without a fight.
Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts hit a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning to keep picking away at the lead. However, the Mets escaped the frame with minimal damage.
The crowd couldn’t get comfortable as the Mets lead was down to four in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Mets quickly jumped on Dodgers pitcher Brent Honeywell Jr, with runners on second and third.
Jeff McNeil, who the Mets activated to the roster ahead of the series, came through with a sacrifice fly to add an insurance run.
Stanek kept the Dodgers offense in check through 2.1 innings, including striking out four batters. After the final out in the top of the seventh inning, Stanek screamed, “Let’s go!” to pump up the crowd.
With the sky lit up with a supermoon over the stadium and the game remaining 11-6, Mets closer Edwin Diaz came in to face three of the best Dodger hitters – Pages, Ohtani and Betts.
Diaz struck out Pages and Ohtani and got Betts to ground out to end the eighth inning and close things out in the ninth inning to end the game.
After the game, Diaz told the Fox Sports 1 broadcast the team “always has the same mentality” when asked about their resilience.
“We go win this game and go back to LA,” Diaz said. “And we did it. We played really good baseball against a really good team. At the end of the day, the guys did their job. The bullpen did a really good job and we got the W.”
Game 6 is on Sunday at 8:08 p.m. ET in Los Angeles.
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