From Party Citi to Panic Citi.
This is not what the Mets were envisioning with the NLCS shifting to Queens for Game 3 after a split in Los Angeles as the Amazin’s were shut out for the second time in the series Wednesday night in an 8-0 loss, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 series lead.
The Mets had won 14 of their previous 16 home games, including both Flushing affairs in the NLDS against the Phillies.
Shohei Ohtani’s three-run homer in the eighth off Tylor Megill put the game out of reach.
Defensive miscues by Francisco Alvarez and Luis Severino helped stake the Dodgers to a 2-0 lead in the second, and Severino was pulled in the fifth after reaching 95 pitches.
And while Reed Garrett got out of a fifth-inning jam, he served up a two-run home run to Kiké Hernández in the sixth.
The Mets had a chance to respond in the bottom of that second inning, loading the bases with one out, but Francisco Alvarez struck out looking and Francisco Lindor struck out swinging to end the threat.
Walker Buehler gave the Dodgers four shutout innings with six strikeouts, and their bullpen mowed the Mets down the rest of the way.
Jose Quintana starts for the Mets Thursday night as they try to even the series again, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]