A controversial four-run rally in the seventh inning propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-2 home win over the New York Mets in Game 2 of their National League Division Series on Saturday night, tying the series at one game apiece.
The Mets came into the seventh inning ahead 2-1, courtesy of second-inning solo home runs from Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto off of Cy Young candidate Zack Greinke. Rookie Noah Syndergaard was dealing for the away side for much of the game but couldn’t finish what would turn out to be a wild seventh inning.
With one out, Enrique Hernandez on third, Chase Utley on first and Bartolo Colon in for Syndergaard, Dodgers second baseman Howie Kendrick knocked a hard grounder up the middle.
Daniel Murphy flipped the ball to Ruben Tejada to seemingly get Utley out at second and perhaps start a double play, but the 36-year-old veteran upended the shortstop with a hard takeout slide. Kendrick reached first safely without a throw, and Hernandez scored from third.
ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin noted it echoed a play from 2010:
With the United States men’s national soccer team playing Mexico a few miles away at the Rose Bowl, Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times trotted out a cross-sport analogy:
Former Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was not a fan of Utley’s slide, as it didn’t appear that he intended to touch the base:
A challenge from Dodgers manager Don Mattingly showed Tejada never touched second base, bringing Utley back into play. The replay also showed Utley failed to touch the bag before jogging to the dugout, but he was still allowed to stay on the field. The umpires did not grant Tejada the neighborhood play, allowing Mattingly to challenge.
ESPN’s Dan Szymborski felt Utley’s slide was legal within the boundaries of the game but suggested those boundaries haven’t kept up with the evolving sport:
Tejada left the game on a cart and suffered a fractured right fibula on the play, per Sports Illustrated‘s Ben Reiter. Wilmer Flores replaced him at short.
After the game, Mets manager Terry Collins commented on the play, per the Wall Street Journal‘s Jared Diamond and Los Angeles Times‘ Bill Shaikin:
After striking out three times against Syndergaard, Adrian Gonzalez delivered against reliever Addison Reed, smacking a two-out double to score both Utley and Kendrick. Turner followed that up with a double of his own, earning the Dodgers a 5-2 lead they would not relinquish. Both Gonzalez’ and Turner’s hits came after a Corey Seager flyball out which, had Utley been ruled out on a neighborhood play, would’ve ended the inning.
The Dodgers’ shaky bullpen came through in relief of Greinke. Chris Hatcher struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth inning, and Kenley Jansen took over to record the three-out save in the ninth. Greinke picked up the victory, allowing five hits and two earned runs and striking out eight.
Syndergaard took the loss, as the first two runs of the seventh were charged to him. He finished with three earned runs and nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings.
After watching Syndergaard’s fastball reach triple digits several times in the first inning, ESPN’s Buster Olney pointed out the Dodgers might be in for another tough night at the plate:
For some time, it looked like Syndergaard would be able to replicate the performance of Jacob deGrom, who outdueled Clayton Kershaw in Game 1, especially with Greinke spotting the Mets an early two-run lead.
Cespedes’ and Conforto’s solo blasts in the second frame were remarkable, considering the pitcher they victimized, per the Wall Street Journal‘s Jared Diamond:
Conforto’s solo shot was particularly notable. It came in the 22-year-old’s first postseason at-bat—not bad for a player who started the year in Single-A—and the homer was a low screamer down the right field line that left the park in a blink.
Journalist Anthony De Rosa had a biting quip for the unusual homer:
Greinke settled down after the second inning, scattering two hits and five strikeouts over the next five frames and deftly working the edges of the strike zone. His slider was effective, keeping the Mets hitters off-balance all night.
The Dodgers got their first run of the game in the fourth inning. Turner led off the inning with a ground-rule double, and he came around to score on Andre Ethier’s double to right field in the next at-bat.
Los Angeles did a fine job of working the count against Syndergaard despite the rookie throwing plenty of first-pitch strikes. Nevertheless, the Dodgers struggled against his sizzling heater, which stayed right around the 99 mph mark throughout his start.
Curtis Granderson was a bright spot leading off for the Mets, going 2-for-3 with a walk and matching his line from Game 1. For the Dodgers, Gonzalez has struck out seven times in the series but still came through with RBI in both games. Getting the start for Joc Pederson, Hernandez scored the tying run and reached base three times. Mattingly’s instincts turned out to be correct, per Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller:
After two games in Chavez Ravine, the series heads to Citi Field for Game 3 on Monday. On paper, the Mets have a huge pitching advantage for the contest, with Matt Harvey (13-8, 2.71 ERA) lined up to take on middling Dodgers starter Brett Anderson (10-9, 3.69 ERA). Harvey has done his best work this year in New York, sporting an 8-3 record with a 2.23 ERA in 17 starts at home.
This game could lead to rule changes in MLB. Utley’s slide was legal, but the unfortunate end result for Tejada, overall questionable intent of the play and ensuing replay controversy may be catalysts for restrictions on baserunners and alterations to the review system.
Postgame Reaction
As one might expect, much of the postgame reaction focused on the Utley play. MLB official—and former Dodgers manager—Joe Torre weighed in on the play, via Pedro Moura of the Orange County Register:
Utley himself explained his thought process, per ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Arash Markazi:
Asked at length about the incident, Collins said he felt the officials handled things correctly in unclear circumstances in taking an out off the board and letting Utley come back to second, per MLB.com:
No, they never explain why. They just said he didn’t touch the bag. But certainly my argument is, you know, the road block. You go to all your available arguments. The road block, is it a neighborhood play? He didn’t touch the bag. All the things that — the umpires handled it great. They said we reviewed the whole thing, and obviously we didn’t think it was a good throw. So the neighborhood play was out. They thought that it’s pretty hard to rule that he didn’t touch the bag when he hit the shortstop and nobody was tagged, so they have no other call. So they handled it right.
No matter your take on the controversy, one thing is for certain: this conversation is far from over.
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