Adrian Gonzalez broke a ninth-inning tie with a two-run single off a suddenly struggling Familia, sending Los Angeles past NY 4-2 on Sunday night.
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Veteran Curtis Granderson was on deck when Kershaw got Michael Conforto to line out for the second out of the eighth inning. On Saturday, Noah Syndergaard was ejected in the third inning for throwing behind Utley, a game the Mets went on to lose 9-1.
Kershaw didn’t get his eighth win of the season Sunday night, but you can’t really blame the ace for his no-decision.
Familia (2-1) allowed more runs in the Dodgers series (six) than he previously had all season (five).
Starlin Castro’s two-run, seventh-inning homer off Jake Odorizzi was the Yankees’ only hit of the game, enough to give NY a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
Utley scored on a controversial call in the third inning.
Adrian Gonzalez snapped a ninth-inning tie with a two-run single off NY closer Jeurys Familia.
NY challenged the call as it appeared on second glance that Seager slid to the side of the bag and may have violated MLB’s new slide rule, otherwise known as “The Utley Rule”. In 2015, Chase Utley attempted a late and dirty slide into second base that resulted in the New York Mets’ second baseman, Ruben Tejada, breaking his leg. But the umpires ruled it was not a violation, and Utley’s run counted. But then Utley homered on Verrett’s first pitch of the sixth to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. Cabrera crushed a 74 MPH Kershaw curveball off the railing in right field that was also reviewed by the umpires and ruled a home run.
Granderson opened the home first with a double to dead center and advanced to third with one out, but Kershaw fanned Yoenis Cespedes on a breaking ball in the dirt and Neil Walker on a changeup to strand the runner.
Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award victor who leads the majors in ERA (1.56), strikeouts (105) and WHIP (0.65), was one out away from completing the eighth inning for the fourth straight start and the seventh time in 11 appearances this season when Roberts pulled him for left-hander Adam Liberatore with Kevin Plawecki at second base and the left-handed hitting Curtis Granderson stepping to the plate. But the move backfired when Granderson hit an RBI triple to the right-field fence over a leaping Yasiel Puig. He said the games he played at first during his minor league rehab assignment helped a lot. The Dodgers turned that lead over to their closer, Kenley Jansen, who retired the side in order to pick up his 15th save of the season. Kershaw finished with 10 strikeouts without issuing a walk, giving him an absurd ratio of 105 to five over 11 starts, along with an NL-best 1.56 ERA.
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Adrian Gonzalez: 2-for-4 with three RBI. The 28-year-old saw his franchise-best streak of double-digit strikeouts snapped after six starts as he fanned only seven in a two-hitter versus Cincinnati on Monday. Collins said he did not have a similar conversation with the team before this series.
