New York Mets over-power Los Angeles Dodgers to earn fourth-straight victory - MLB Updates
New York Mets have won their fourth-straight outing defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-3 in the first of the three-game series Friday, May 6 to take a 1-0 lead.
Dodgers’ Matt Kemp hammered a homer off Jonathan Niese, the Mets’ starter, in the first inning to clinch the Dodgers early 1-0 lead. Hiroki Kuroda, making his sixth start of the season, could not restrict the opposition scoreless and gave away a RBI tying
single.
The Dodgers’ catcher, Rod Barajas entered the plate and launched the game’s second homer to elevate the club above the Mets. The Mets’ slugger, Ike Davis blistered a 377-foot long one-run homer off Kuroda and again tied the game 2-2.
Then both pitchers struck back and held the batters scoreless until the fifth when Niese gave the Dodgers’ third base man, Juan Uribe a leading RBI single in the top of the inning. Kurodo did not allow a run in the bottom of the inning and forced extensive
pressure over the Mets.
The Dodgers were leading 3-2 in the sixth inning, however the game completely reversed and went into the Mets side due to Jason Pridie’s three-run homer off Kuroda. Pridie, who was having just four at-bats before this season, launched his third home run
of the season to take his team to 5-3 in a stadium packed with spectators.
Pridie hammered a 0-1 splitter that glided over the heart of the plate and sent it floating off the bull-pen in right-centre. Just before this, the Dodgers’ rookie manager, Don Mattingly had allowed an intentional walk to Ike Davis to avoid a home-run chance.
Pridie said about this move, "I'm not insulted, obviously. I know when you've got Ike Davis at the plate and you see Jason Pridie behind him, you're probably going to want to pitch to Jason Pridie. But after I saw him walking, I sort of got into that competitive
mode and really said to myself, 'I'm doing this. I'm getting a hit right here,' and really kind of locked in. It spurs a little emotion there.’"
The move bothered Mattingly who was not pleased at all on his decision. Mattingly said, "You always think you're an idiot when you walk Davis there and get to him, and he does that," Mattingly said. "Kind of your last thought is a three-run homer there,
again, especially in this ballpark. There were some balls that were crushed that didn't go out tonight."
In the seventh inning, Jason Bay widened the lead adding a RBI single off the Dodgers’ reliever Blake Hawksworth, who also allowed two walks and one earned run over one inning.
Kuroda gave five runs on seven hits, allowed three walks and three earned runs over five innings in his third loss of the season. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a scoreless inning and closer Kenley Jansen did not give away any run in the last inning.
Niese gave three runs on seven hits, allowed three walks and three earned runs while striking-out five batters. Despite getting early runs, Niese managed to earn his first win of the season.
The relievers, Ryota Igarashi, Taylor Buchholz, and Jason Isringhausen, remained scoreless in their innings. Closer Fernando Rodriguez pitched a perfect last inning to earn his eighth save of the season.
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