Trea Turner and Albert Pujols hit first-inning home runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to nine games Saturday by hanging on for a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets.
Max Scherzer went five innings as the Dodgers have gone 4-0 in his first four starts with the club. The right-hander arrived from the Washington Nationals in a trade-deadline deal, along with Turner.
Chris Taylor also hit a home run as the Dodgers have gone 6-0 against the Mets in a span of nine days and have won 13 of their last 14 games overall.
Brandon Nimmo hit a home run for the Mets. New York has lost eight of their last nine games, all since starting a run of 13 consecutive games against the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, the teams with the two best records in baseball.
Former Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill (6-5) gave up three runs over five innings on six hits in his sixth appearance (five starts) with the Mets.
The Dodgers got going quickly when Turner hit a home run on Hill’s second pitch of the game. It was his first home run with Los Angeles and 19th of the season. Two batters after Turner went deep, Pujols delivered a blast to right-center field. It was his 10th home run with the Dodgers and 15th on the season.
Taylor increased the Los Angeles lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning on a home run to straightaway center, his 18th.
The Mets broke through in the fifth inning when Nimmo hit a two-out home run off the right-field foul pole, his fourth, to cut the deficit to 3-1. New York then loaded the bases, but Scherzer escaped the jam, and the 34-pitch inning, by striking out J.D. Davis.
Scherzer (11-4) gave up one run on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts and now has a 2.11 ERA with the Dodgers.
Los Angeles tacked on a run in the sixth for a 4-1 advantage on Chris Taylor’s bases-loaded walk with nobody out, but failed to score again in the inning against Mets right-hander Jeurys Familia.
The Mets pulled to within a run in the seventh inning on Alonso’s two-run home run to left off Blake Treinen, his 28th of the season.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 27th save, striking out Alonso to end the game.
–Field Level Media