by Cary Osborne
The Dodgers’ longest game in four years included a one-hour-and-38-minute rain delay, a season-high eight pitchers used, a blown three-run lead and a clutch hit to deliver a win at Citi Field.
After three missed opportunities with a ghost runner — a runner in scoring position to begin each extra inning — Teoscar Hernández finally drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the 13th inning.
The Dodgers beat the Mets 7–5 on Friday.
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The clutch right fielder has now given the Dodgers the go-ahead RBI in two consecutive games. He hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3–1 win on Wednesday against the Diamondbacks.
Hernández now has 41 RBI this season.
He has given the Dodgers a lead with a hit 12 times this season.
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The Dodgers led 5–2 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday, but the Mets scored three times against reliever Tanner Scott.
But Hernández was at the center of putting the Dodgers ahead early.
The New York rain put Friday’s game on hold for an hour and 38 minutes. And when the game returned, the Mets faced thunder in the third inning — Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Hernández with runners in scoring position.
It didn’t go well for the Mets.
Freeman walked. Smith drove in a run with a single. Hernández followed with a two-run single.
All with two outs.
The trio is now hitting a combined 53-for-116 (.454) with runners in scoring position.
Individually, they are hitting with runners in scoring position:
· Smith: 20-for-40 (.500) — first in the Majors
· Hernández: 20-for-43 (.465) — second in the Majors
· Freeman: 14-for-36 (.389) — seventh in the Majors
According to Fangraphs, the best batting average by a Dodger with runners in scoring position in the first half this century (minimum 40 plate appearances) belongs to Hanley Ramirez.
Ramirez hit .438 (14-for-32) in 41 first-half plate appearances with runners in scoring position in 2013. Right behind him is Dave Roberts (.436, 17-for-39 in 2002).
Smith, Hernández and Freeman are on pace for considerably more than 40 plate appearances with runners in scoring position in the first half. Matt Kemp batted .429 (30-for-70) in 84 plate appearances in his All-Star 2018 season.
Max Muncy and Andy Pages added RBI singles in the fifth inning.
Pages is 14-for-42 (.333) with runners in scoring position this year.
The Major League-leading team with runners in scoring position — the Dodgers at .309.
Rain cuts Kershaw’s start short
Clayton Kershaw walked the first batter he faced on Friday on four pitches — Francisco Lindor. Then he started to gain some efficiency.
He faced six batters through two scoreless innings and struck out one — Brandon Nimmo — for career K №2,971.
But the rain delay ended his night at just 26 pitches.
The Dodgers received three effective innings each from Matt Sauer and Ben Casparius each before Tanner Scott entered in the ninth.
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Alex Vesia, Lou Trivino, Anthony Banda and Luis García held the Mets scoreless in the extra innings.
Ohtani’s next pitching step
Manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Shohei Ohtani will face hitters in a live batting practice on Sunday.
Ohtani has ramped things up recently. On Saturday, he threw a bullpen that reached nearly 50 pitches.
What’s next?
“I think honestly it’s how (things) go, and you get to the next step,” Roberts said. “A lot of it is going to be contingent on how he’s feeling. I don’t think anyone knows how the next couple of months are going to look.”
The clutch crew come through in 13 was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.