Los Angeles

Sun Sets on Dodgers in 2-1 Loss to Mets

New York Mets rookie Noah Syndergaard matched reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw pitch-for-pitch as the Dodgers were held to just three hits, falling to the Mets 2-1 on Friday.

As the sun slowly set on a beautiful summer day at Dodger Stadium, so too did the Dodgers bats as Los Angeles was stymied by rookie Noah Syndergaard and the New York Mets edged the Dodgers 2-1 on Friday night.

Kevin Plawecki drove in the winning run off Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen with a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth as the Mets snapped their three-game losing streak and move to one game above .500 at the halfway point of the season.

The Dodgers meanwhile, remain three games ahead of the San Francisco Giants in the NL West at the midway point in the season with a record of 45-36.

"I feel like we're in neutral right now," 2014 Cy Young Award Winner Clayton Kershaw said about the team's performance. "We're still in first at the halfway point, so there's a lot to be said for that."

Adrian Gonzalez started off the second inning with a solo shot to deep center of Syndergaard. It was Gonzalez's 14th home run of the season, his most through the first half of the season since 2011 with the Boston Red Sox.

"I left a change-up in the zone, and he put a good piece of wood on it," Syndergaard said. "I probably shouldn't have thrown that pitch there."

Wilmer Flores went 3-for-4 and hit an RBI single past Gonzalez in the top of the 4th to tie the game at one apiece.

After a leadoff double by John Mayberry Jr., Kershaw threw a wild pitch that advanced him to third before Flores knocked him home.

"I don't think I could have done anything differently that inning," Kershaw said. "The bloops and hard hit balls evened out, but they put them in the right places and got a run."

Kershaw continues to be unlucky this season. Despite making his eighth consecutive quality start, the reigning NL MVP has not won a game since June 6th, and is winless in his last five starts overall, despite posting a 2.41 ERA over that span.

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"It never feels good to lose a game that you pitched in," Kershaw said. "I'm not frustrated, but the mood in here isn't as fun when you lose, so I need to grind one out."

Kershaw allowed just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings. Ordinarily, that would be more than enough to get the W, but the Dodgers offense was stagnant, collecting only three hits in the game.

NY Mets rookie Noah Syndergaard made his 10th career start, and nearly matched the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner pitch-for-pitch. Syndergaard overwhelmed the Dodgers hitters allowing one run on just two hits with six strikeouts in six innings.

"It was awesome just to be able to step on to the same mound as Kershaw," Syndergaard said humbly. "He's an unbelievable pitcher and a lot of fun to watch."

Syndergaard tied a career-high allowing just two hits, and has surrendered one run or fewer in six of his last 10 starts.

Hansel Robles (2-2) pitched two scoreless innings for New York earning the victory and Jeurys Familia pitched a perfect ninth inning earning his 22nd save of the season.

Dodgers' closer Kenley Jansen suffered his first loss of the season after a couple of bad breaks started off the ninth inning. Lucas Duda led off with a bloop double that just snuck inside the left field line and Flores hit a slow-rolling single off Jansen's glove that gave the Mets runners on first and third with no outs.

One batter later, Kevin Plawecki flew out to centerfield, scoring Duda and the Mets won the game 2-1, improving to 16-13 in one-run games.

"I did my job today. I can't beat myself up on bloop singles and sac flies," Jansen said after the game. "We have a really good team, we can beat anybody, I can't let this bother me. I just have to come back tomorrow and do my job."

The loss was Jansen's first since June of 2014, but the All-Star closer has now allowed a run in three consecutive appearances for the firs time in his big league career.


Game Notes:
Howie Kendrick snapped his seven-game hitting streak, but also snapped the Dodgers franchise high 23-game stolen base drought with his theft of second in the sixth-inning.

The NY Mets pitching staff has allowed just 13 runs in it's last 80.0 innings.

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