NEW YORK — It was in the bottom of the second inning that something close to a dream scenario unfolded for the Mets at Citi Field. The bases were loaded, Francisco Lindor was at bat, and it was a looping curve ball that was trying to get out of Walker Buehler’s hands. Recently, such situations have often led to the Mets conceding points.
However, in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, Lindor waved off a pitch to end the inning.
The vaunted top of the New York batting lineup did little for once in Wednesday’s 8-0 loss to the Dodgers, but there are questions about whether lower-ranked teams should be doing more to help. It is occurring.
To be fair, neither side of the Mets’ lineup did much in this best-of-seven series when the Dodgers took a 2-1 lead. Part of that was due to the Mets’ coldest game in Queens since at least May, with temperatures in the low 50s and winds gusting from left field to right field. Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos all hit balls that could have landed in the stands on a mid-August night.
But there’s a reason baseball in October is challenging. The teams that do best are the ones that can adapt.
Facing opposing starting pitcher Buehler, who had struggled all season, the Mets put a lot of pressure on him from the beginning. But the second-inning threat, which ended when Lindor swung through a 3-on-2 knuckle curve, ended up being the best of the game. Meanwhile, the Dodgers got two runs from Luis Severino (none earned, the product of two sloppy defenses), two runs from Reid Garrett in the 6th inning, and Shohei Ohtani’s monster homer in the 8th inning off Tyler Megill. He scored three points and then one more. Max Muncy’s home run off Megill in the 9th inning.
