The Mets are accustomed to a man named Davis delivering, but usually he goes by J.D.
Instead, here was Rajai Davis, thrust into an important spot Saturday night: bases loaded, two outs in a scoreless game with the Mets’ wild-card hopes potentially slipping even further away.
The veteran outfielder came to the rescue with the biggest hit of his Mets career, a bases-clearing double that accounted for the only runs in a 3-0 victory over the Dodgers at Citi Field. The win was the Mets’ fourth in five games and kept them three lengths behind the Cubs in the race for the NL’s second wild card.
After Cy Young award hopefuls Jacob deGrom and Hyun-Jin Ryu dueled for seven scoreless innings, the Mets scrapped for their runs in the eighth against the Dodgers bullpen. Todd Frazier and Brandon Nimmo were both hit by pitches before Amed Rosario walked to load the bases.
Davis came to the plate as a pinch-hitter for Seth Lugo, who had entered the game in a double switch in the top of the eighth and struck out the side. Davis fell behind 1-2 in the count to Julio Urias before smashing a change-up to left for a three-run double. Davis’ last hit had come on Aug. 20 against his former team, the Indians.
Ryu retired the final 13 batters he faced over seven scoreless innings in which he allowed two hits and struck out six. Robinson Cano and Rosario singled in the second and third innings respectively, accounting for the Mets’ only offense against Ryu.
The reigning NL Cy Young winner gave the Mets seven shutout innings in which he allowed three hits and struck out eight over 101 pitches. Along the way his ERA dropped from 2.70 to 2.61.
DeGrom retired 16 straight batters beginning in the second inning, a streak that ended with Corey Seager’s two-out single in the seventh. A.J. Pollock followed with a single, but after a visit from pitching coach Phil Regan, the right-hander struck out Gavin Lux to escape trouble.
For deGrom it was a second battle with a Cy Young candidate in less than two weeks. On Sept. 3 in Washington he and Max Scherzer each allowed four runs, but neither pitcher factored into the decision as the Mets’ bullpen surrendered six runs in the ninth in an 11-10 loss.
The series finale is Sunday night, when Walker Buehler is scheduled to face Zack Wheeler, for a third straight highly regarded starting pitching matchup; Clayton Kershaw battled Noah Syndergaard on Friday, with the Dodgers rolling to a 9-2 victory.
This was another strong performance against the Mets for Ryu, who entered 4-1 with a 1.38 ERA in seven starts against them lifetime. Included was a 7 ²/₃-inning shutout against the Mets on May 30 at Dodger Stadium.
DeGrom’s only early challenge was the second inning, in which Cody Bellinger smacked a hard single leading off and Pollock was hit by a pitch. But deGrom rebounded to strike out Lux before Russell Martin was retired to end the inning.
Manager Mickey Callaway went with the extra right-handed bat in the lineup, leaving Michael Conforto on the bench against Ryu as Juan Lagares started in center field for a fourth straight game.
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