LOS ANGELES – Adrian Gonzalez homered to give Los Angeles a lead, but the New York Mets would rally, scoring two runs over the final seven innings, defeating the Dodgers 2-1 on beautiful summer night at Chavez Ravine.
Kevin Plawecki hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly and rookie Noah Syndergaard shut down the Dodgers offense, dueling with reigning NL MVP Clayton Kershaw, matching the ace nearly pitch-for-pitch.
"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."
The Mets offense has struggled as of late, as they scored just one run in a three-game sweep by the Chicago Cubs entering into the game. The runs came ugly, but they eventually came as New York pieced together bloop hits with a little luck throughout the game.
"I don't think I could have done anything differently," Kershaw said of his performance. "The bloops and hard hit balls evened out, but they put them in the right places and got a run."
Syndergaard, who is nicknamed "Thor," by his teammates, held the Dodgers to just two hits (one of them the homer to Gonzalez), over six-innings in a no-decision. Syndergaard has allowed just one run or fewer in six of his last ten starts.
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 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."
Jansen suffered his first loss of the season a couple of bad breaks to start off the bottom of the ninth. Lucas Duda leadoff with a bloop double that just snuck inside the left field line and Wilmer Flores hit a slow-rolling single off Jansen's glove that gave the Mets runners on first and third with no outs.
"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."
One batter later, Plawecki flew out to centerfield, scoring Duda and the Mets won the game 2-1, improving to 16-13 in one-run games.
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.
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.
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