Roki Sasaki gave the Dodgers exactly the kind of road-start statement they needed Friday night in New York, and Kyle Tucker finished the job.
Los Angeles beat the Mets 4-2 to move to 66-38 and improve to 5-2 on its current road trip. Sasaki handled seven sharp innings, and Tucker broke a tight game open with a two-run homer in the eighth.
Sasaki was in command from the start. He allowed three hits and one run while striking out nine, and even though he only went over 100 mph a few times after the velocity spike in his last outing, his splitter and slider carried the night. The numbers backed up the eye test: career highs in whiffs and swings and misses for the MLB rookie, who leaned on a new larger glove and a steady stream of grunts while carving through the Mets again.
The lone damage against him came in the second, when Luis Robert Jr. turned around a Sasaki fastball for a solo shot with one out. After that, the Dodgers’ starter settled in and kept New York from stringing much together.
Los Angeles had traffic on the bases early and often, getting the leadoff man aboard in six of the first seven innings, but the offense didn’t cash in until the game was already tight. The Dodgers managed just one run against Sean Manaea and the Mets pitching through the first six.
That run came in the fourth. Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts opened the inning with back-to-back singles, and Miguel Rojas followed with a sacrifice fly to tie it 1-1.
The Dodgers had another chance to push ahead in the fifth after Shohei Ohtani tried to stretch a double into a triple while testing his knee again. Freeman followed with a leadoff double, but Rojas couldn’t bring him home with another sac fly, and Carson Benge erased Freeman at the plate on a fly ball to keep the game tied.
The sixth brought more trouble for the Mets. They pinch-hit for Juan Soto, who left with calf tightness, and Sasaki responded by striking out the side for the first time in his MLB career.
Los Angeles finally nudged in front in the seventh. A pair of soft hits and another sacrifice fly against the Mets bullpen gave the Dodgers a 2-1 edge, continuing a season-long trend for a club that leads baseball in sac flies.
The real separation came one inning later. Kyle Tucker started the eighth with a leadoff infield hit, Teoscar Hernandez followed with a blooper to shallow right, and Dalton Rushing reached on a fielder’s choice that forced the Mets to throw home to get Tucker.
That set the stage for Ohtani, but it was Freeman who kept the inning moving with his third hit of the night and a stolen base. Then Tucker unloaded, launching his first homer since June 27 - a two-run shot off A.J.
Minter that made it 4-1.
The Mets answered once more in the bottom of the eighth when Francisco Alvarez homered off Evan Phillips to trim the deficit to 4-2, but Tanner Scott closed it out in the ninth for his 16th save.
Tucker finished 2-for-3 with an intentional walk and two RBIs, while the Dodgers overcame a rough night with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-13. Even so, they kept control of the season series, moving to 4-0 against the Mets this year.
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