(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photo by Henk Seppen)
 Dodgers even NLDS vs. Mets after 7-inning rally
Nederlands
 LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
The Los Angeles Dodgers long trailed 2-1 in Game 2 of their best-of-five National League Division Series vs. the New York Mets on Saturday-evening (October 10).
But the Dodgers turned the game around in a wild seventh inning, scoring four runs.
In the inning, a call was reversed and a player left with a fractured fibula.
The Dodgers went on to win 5-2.
Game Three will be played on Monday at New York.
The first two games were played at Dodger Stadium.
This season, the Dodgers led the Major League in total attendance with 3,764,815 fans watching games in the beautiful stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
It was the third consecutive season that the Dodgers led in attendance.
This season, the Dodgers led the Major League with the best Fielding Average (.988) and also made the fewest Errors, only 75.
The last time the Dodgers led the Majors in fielding was in 2004.
Earlier today, the Chicago Cubs won in Game 2 of their NLDS vs. the St. Louis Cardinals to also even that series.
Recap Cardinals vs. Cubs
On Sunday, the third games are played in the American League Division Series.
Dodger-Manager Don Mattingly made several changes to his starting line-up for today after the loss in the opener on Friday.
Enrique Hernandez started in centerfielder instead of Joc Pederson.
He also made changes in his batting order, moving three players to another spot as opposed to the first game.
In the opener on Friday, Mets-starter Jacob deGrom struckout 13 batters to tie a club-record for most strikeouts in a postseason-game.
In 1973, Hall of Fame-pitcher Tom Seaver struckout 13 for the Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series vs. Cincinnati Reds.
Seaver went the distance, but the Mets lost the game 2-1, thanks to homeruns by Pete Rose and Johnny Bench.
The homerun hit by Rose tied the score in the eighth inning, then Bench hit a walk-off homerun in the ninth to give the Reds the win.
Starting pitchers tonight were righthander Zach Greinke (19-3) for the Dodgers and righthander Noah Syndergaard (9-7) for the Mets.
Greinke made his eighth career postseason-start tonight.
This season, he had the best ERA in the Majors with 1.66, which is the lowest since Greg Maddux closed with a 1.63 ERA in 1995.
Greinke made two starts against the Mets during the regular season and was 1-0.
The 23-year old Syndergaard struckout 166 batters this season, which was the most in the Majors by rookies.
Syndergaard became known this season for his hard fastball, which had an average velocity of 96,5 mph.
The righthander faced the Dodgers once this season, which was a no-decision on July 3.
The Mets got on base immediately in the first at bat when Curtis Granderson led off with a single, but a double play-grounder followed moments later.
The Mets then struck with two runs in the second inning off of 31-year old Zack Greinke.
First, Cuban Yoenis Cespedes led off with a homerun.
Greinke recovered and retired the next two batters, but then gave up another homerun, this time hit by Michael Conforto in his first postseason at bat.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers got a chance to do something back off of Noah Syndergaard.
Enrique Hernandez led off with a single, then Howie Kendrick singled with one out.
Syndergaard followed both basehits with a strikeout, then faced powerhitter Adrian Gonzalez.
But the rookie also struckout Gonzalez to register his sixth strikeout of the game.
Two of his pitches on Gonzalez were 100mph fastballs.
...Kenley Jansen earned a save tonight...
...On the photo, Jansen pitches for the...
...Netherlands Team during the 2009...
...World Championship...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the next inning, the Dodgers cut he Mets-lead in half.
Justin Turner and Andre Ethier began the inning with back-to-back doubles to make it a 2-1 score.
Hereafter, a baserunning-mistake followed, as Ethier was eliminated at third base when he tried to advance on a comeback-grounder to the pitcher by Carl Crawford.
After a strikeout accounted for the second out, Crawford stole second base.
Hereafter, Enrique Hernandez was walked intentionally, as pitcher Zack Greinke was the next batter, but also to set up a force play.
However, Greinke is a good hitter, having hit two homeruns this season.
Greinke drove the ball into right-centerfield, but there, rightfielder Curtis Granderson made the catch to end the inning.
The Dodgers made it a new ballgame in a wild bottom of the seventh inning.
With one out, Syndergaard walked Enrique Hernandez, who then stole second base.
Next, pinch-hitter Chase Utley singled to right-centerfield.
As Hernandez had to wait halfway wether or not the ball could be caught, he was unable to score and was stopped at third base.
That led to a pitching change, as 42-year old veteran Bartolo Colón took over from 23-year old rookie Noah Syndergaard.
Colón faced Howie Kendrick, who grounded up the middle, where second baseman Daniel Murphy fielded the ball and threw it to short stop Ruben Tejada for the force out on second base, while Hernandez scored the tying run.
While Utley approached, the throw was somewhat off the base, but Tejada appeared to touch second base, then jumped and turned trying to make a double play.
At that moment, Utley made a late slide and a hard collission followed.
Tejada injured his right-leg, while Utley was hit in the head by Tejada's leg.
Utley, who never touched second base, was called out on the force play and therefore left the field to return to the dug-out.
Tejada then was attended to and left with an injury.
In the meantime, Dodger-Manager Don Mattingly challenged the play at second base, stating that Tejada was not in contact with the base.
After reviewing the play, it was determined that Tejada indeed barely was off the base.
With that, Utley was ruled safe and returned to the base, despite never having touched it on the play.
The (replay) ruling is that an umpiring's decision can be corrected and that a runner can be awarded the base he is entitled to, despite not having touched it.
Simply, because the play is corrected and the player didn't need to touch the base (after the call), as he was ruled out.
When the game resumed, Wilmer Flores took over at short stop for Tejada, while Addison Reed relieved Colón.
A flyout followed, but then back-to-back doubles followed.
First, Adrian Gonzalez drove the ball into right-centerfield for a 2-run double, then scored himself on a following double by Justin Turner to make it 5-2 in favor of the Dodgers.
That led to another pitching change, as Jon Niese took over for Reed and ended the inning by striking out pinch-hitter Justin Ruggiano.
Some time later, it was announced that X-rays in the stadium showed that Tejada had fractured his right fibula and that means that his season is over.
After both teams were retired in order in the eighth inning, closer Kenley Jansen pitched the top of the ninth inning for the Dodgers.
The Netherlands Baseball Team-pitcher from Curaçao earned 36 saves this season and struckout 80 batters in 52 1/3 inning.
In the ninth, Jansen began with a strikeout, but then walked Curtis Granderson.
But hereafter, a flyout and pop-fly followed to end the game.
Jansen had earned another save and the Dodgers had even the series.
(October 10)
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