Dodgers beat Mets 7-5 in 13-inning marathon in Queens

The Dodgers (32-19) prevailed over the Mets (30-21) in a 13-inning rain-soaked battle at Citi Field Friday evening. Both teams emptied their bullpens, and the Dodgers failed to cash in the automatic runners in three straight extra innings to extend the pain as long as possible.

Multiple odd rules caused confusion in the game, and a controversial obstruction call on Max Muncy awarded the Mets a crucial run.

Rain came down at Citi Field upon first pitch, an ominous hint of what was to come. An hour and 38-minute rain delay shortened Clayton Kershaw’s second start since his return.

The command issues Kershaw fought through in his first start against the Angels came creeping back in the first inning. He walked Francisco Lindor to shakily start.

The Dodgers used a challenge in the bottom of the first on a potential double ball hit by Juan Soto. The call was overturned. Soto’s season struggles at the plate for the Mets continued in the series opener against L.A.

Brandon Nimmo timed a jump against the left field wall to rob Will Smith of extra bases in the second.

Shohei Ohtani worked a walk to put two on with one out in the third inning. Then there was an odd play and rulebook check. The first of two in the game.

Soto and Tyrone Taylor nearly collided on a line drive ball hit by Mookie Betts. Taylor somehow re-caught the ball with his bare hand after bumping into Soto. It looked as though Michael Conforto left the bag early and didn’t tag up on the catch. After the Mets challenged, the call was upheld. As soon as the ball was first touched by Taylor, Conforto tagged up, which is legal. Apparently this prevents the outfielder from juggling the ball all the way into the infield to get base runners.

In the top of the third, midway through a Freddie Freeman at-bat, the game was placed in a rain delay.

After the long delay, both starting pitchers were done for the night including Kershaw who struck out one and walked one in two innings of work and 26 pitches.

The Dodgers got right on the board when the game resumed. Max Kranick walked Freeman, and Will Smith knocked in the first run of the night for the Dodgers.

A two-run base hit by Teoscar Hernández gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead after the rain delay.

Matt Sauer took over for Kershaw in the bottom of the third, and Brett Baty took him deep for the Mets with a solo home run to get one run back.

The Mets netted a second run when Starling Marte was called safe on that sacrifice fly because Muncy interfered with Marte’s ability to see Hernández make the catch in right field. Dave Roberts went out to argue, but it didn’t work. It was the second uncommon call on the field, and Muncy was as confused as I was.

Muncy made up for his two errors on the night with a RBI base hit in the top of the fifth, and Andy Pages followed suit with another RBI single to give the Dodgers a three-run lead.

Ben Casparius was clutch and pitched three scoreless innings with six strikeouts for the Dodgers in relief.

The Dodgers didn’t get a hit out of their top three guys in their lineup until Ohtani’s ninth inning single. Ohtani was caught stealing second, and Betts struck out to end the soggy frame.

Another walk to Alonso and a Jeff McNeil triple to the right field corner brought in two runs to make it a one-run game in the bottom of the ninth. Taylor singled to tie it up 5-5.

Scott, pitching for the third time in four days, blew his second save in his last three relief appearances. Scott coughed up three runs in the bottom of the ninth to blow the save. His over usage is indicative of the multitude of pitching injuries the Dodgers are dealing with right now how many innings the bullpen have logged.

Alex Vesia gave up a hit, but he was able to hold off the home team and take the game to extras.

The Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the tenth against Edwin Díaz, but Muncy grounded into an inning ending double play.

Soto got another shot to get a big hit in the bottom of the 10th with one out and two on vs. Lou Trivino. Soto grounded out to first and moved the runners to second and third, but he ended up going 0-for-5 on the night. The Dodgers took their chances with Alonso who flied out to Pages in center.

Anthony Banda started the bottom of the 11th, but Dave Roberts had to go to his eighth pitcher of the night to try to fend off the Metropolitans. Luis García induced a Luisangel Acuña groundout to wiggle out of the bases loaded jam.

The first hit by either team since the ninth inning was a Hernández RBI double to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead in the 13th inning.

Hernández tagged up and scored on a Pages sacrifice double play to make it 7-5.

Luis García pitched 2 ¹⁄₃ innings of shutout extra-innings ball with two strikeouts to finally end the marathon after 13 innings and also pick up his second win of the season.

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Friday particulars

Home runs: Brett Baty (6)

WP — Luis García (2-0, 4.13 ERA): 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, no hits, no runs, 2 walks, no strikeouts (14 pitches)

LP — Huascar Brazobán (3-1, 1.16 ERA): 1 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs, no walks, no strikeouts (15 pitches)

Up next

Tony Gonsolin (2-0, 4.05, 1.30 WHIP) faces David Peterson (2-2, 2.86 ERA, 1.33 WHIP in the second game of the series with first pitch at (4:15p.m. PT; FOX).