LOS ANGELES — New Yorkers like to complain about how difficult it is to find a good bagel outside of the city. The Dodgers gave them nine to choose from Sunday night.
Picking up right where they left off in their series with the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers continued their scoreless streak with a third consecutive shutout, beating the New York Mets, 9-0, in Game 1 of their National League Championship Series.
Game 2 is Monday afternoon (1 p.m., FOX and FS1).
The Dodgers have not given up a run since the second inning of Game 3 in the NL Division Series. The 33 consecutive scoreless innings by Dodgers pitchers is tied for the longest streak in postseason history with the Baltimore Orioles, who shut out the Dodgers for 33 consecutive innings during the 1966 World Series.
The Dodgers have scored 23 unanswered runs while holding the Padres and Mets to zeroes during the scoreless streak.
The bullpen carried the load in back-to-back shutouts to end the NLDS. But it was a starter – they still have those in baseball these days – who kept it going Sunday.
Jack Flaherty retired the first nine Mets in order, didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning or a run in seven innings and became the first Dodgers starter to touch the mound in the seventh inning of a postseason start since Max Scherzer in Game 3 of their 2021 NLDS against the San Francisco Giants – 20 postseason games ago.
The Mets made Flaherty sweat just once – and then bungled their way out of a scoring opportunity in a callback to their franchise origins.
Jesse Winker led off the fifth inning with a single and Jose Iglesias dumped another into shallow left-center field. Winker got a good jump and rounded second base, heading for third base. Center fielder Kiké Hernandez fielded the ball and set up to throw to third base. Winker saw that and froze. When Hernandez threw across his body to second base instead, Winker was caught in no-man’s land and thrown out.
The next two Mets flew out to end the threat.
Having faced down the best team they are likely to face this postseason, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game he wanted his team to “push on” and not “let down your guard or get off the gas.”
Kodai Senga made it easy for them.
The Mets’ starting pitcher made just one start during the regular season due to shoulder and calf injuries and was limited in how many pitches he would be able to throw in a postseason start. He burned up 23 of them in the first inning, walking three consecutive batters to load the bases with one out. After Will Smith flew out and the runners held, Max Muncy came through with a two-out, two-run single.
Senga walked the first batter he faced in the second inning as well. After Tommy Edman bunted him to second, Shohei Ohtani drove in the Dodgers’ third run with a single.
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That was it for Senga, who threw just 10 strikes in his 30 pitches. The Dodgers did nothing to help him. Of his 20 pitches outside the strike zone, Dodgers hitters swung at just two – one cutter and one slider.
While Flaherty was breezing through the Mets’ lineup, the Dodgers doubled their lead with a three-run fourth inning.
Kiké Hernandez led off with a single and moved up on their second sacrifice bunt of the game, this one by Gavin Lux. Edman cashed it in with an RBI single and Ohtani followed with a 116.5 mph laser off the wall in right-center field. When Starling Marte bobbled the ball, Edman scored from first and Ohtani moved to second. Freddie Freeman drove him in with another two-out hit.
In the first postseason of his MLB career, Ohtani has built an odd stat line – he is 6 for 8 with runners on base, 0 for 16 when he bats with the bases empty.
The bases were loaded after Ohtani walked in the eighth inning, then Mookie Betts drove in three runs with a double.
More to come on this story.
