LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Dodgers will have a bullpen game for the second time in four games when they face the New York Mets in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series Monday at Dodger Stadium.
Manager Dave Roberts said in his news conference following Sunday’s 9- 0 victory he was not sure who the opener would be but would “let those guys know” Sunday night.
Jack Flaherty pitching seven innings Sunday — only the second time in his 30 regular season and postseason starts in 2024 he had pitched at least seven innings — gave the Dodgers “a lot of guys that are rested and rearing to go,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers also had a bullpen game in Wednesday’s 8-0 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of their National League Division Series when eight pitchers limited the Padres to seven hits.
The Dodgers enter Monday’s game three outs away from a record. If they are able to retire the Mets in the first inning without allowing a run, the Dodgers will set the record for consecutive scoreless innings in the postseason. The share the record of 33 innings with the Baltimore Orioles from the 1966 World Series when they faced the Dodgers.
The Dodgers three consecutive shutouts ties the postseason record first set by the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series and matched by the Orioles in 1966, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Major League Baseball’s official statistician.
The Dodgers have not allowed a run since allowing six in the second inning of Game 3 against the Padres Tuesday and have outscored their opponents 24-0 in that span.
Sunday’s 9-0 victory was the largest shutout win in Dodgers postseason history, topping the 8-0 victory Wednesday.
Left-hander Sean Manaea will pitch for New York Monday, six days after limiting the Philadelphia Phillies to one run and three hits over seven innings in a 7-2 victory Tuesday in Game 3 of their National League Division Series.
Manaea was 12-6 3.47 ERA in the regular season. The Mets were 23-9 in his 32 starts.
Manaea faced the Dodgers once in 2024, allowing two runs on four hits in five innings and not figuring in the decision in New York’s 9-4 victory April 19 at Dodger Stadium.
Manaea said Sunday he is “just a little more confident in myself, in my stuff” now than when he last faced the Dodgers.
Manaea is 1-5 with a 7.09 ERA in 11 lifetime appearances against the Dodgers, including eight starts. Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is 2- for-7 for a .286 batting average against Manaea, with one RBI.
ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Dodgers a 56.4% chance of winning Friday, the Mets a 43.6% chance.
The 1:08 p.m. game will be televised by Fox and FS1.
Flaherty (1-1) limited the Mets to two hits over the first seven innings — back-to-back singles by Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias to begin the fifth. Winker briefly stopped after rounding second and was thrown at third on a relay from center fielder Kiké Hernández to second baseman Gavin Lux to third baseman Max Muncy.
Roberts described Flaherty’s performance as “a pitching clinic.”
“I thought he did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix,” Roberts said. “Used his fastball when he needed to. Just minimized damage. And once we caught a lead, he did a great job of just going after those guys and attacking. And for us to get seven innings in a long series was huge.”
New York’s first-year manager Carlos Mendoza said Flaherty “was getting ahead with his fastball and then the slider, the breaking ball, the slow curve kept us off balance, but he was getting ahead and making pitches. He tried to make us chase, which we did the first time through the order. Then he was just on. He was locating his pitches and he did a good job.”
Francisco Alvarez singled off reliever Daniel Hudson in the eighth for New York’s other hit.
Ben Casparius pitched a perfect ninth, striking out Starling Marte to end the game before a crowd announced at 53,503, but had thinned considerably by that time
The Dodgers opened the scoring with two runs in the first. With one out, Kodai Senga issued consecutive walks to Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández to load the bases. After Will Smith flew out for the second out, Muncy singled in Betts and Freeman.
The Dodgers increased their lead to 3-0 in the second. Lux led off with a walk, moved to second on Tommy Edman’s sacrifice and scored on Ohtani’s single, which prompted Mendoza to replace Senga with fellow right-hander Reed Garrett.
The Dodgers scored three runs in the fifth off left-hander Doug Peterson, the third of five Mets pitchers.
Kiké Hernández led off with a single, moved to second on Lux’s sacrifice, and scored on Erdman’s single. Edman scored on a single by Ohtani and fielding error by Marte, the New York right fielder. Ohtani, who advanced to second on the error, scored on Freeman’s single one out later.
Betts hit a bases clearing double with one out in the eighth.
Kiké Hernández led off with a single. Kevin Kiermaier hit a grounder to Pete Alonso, the Mets’ first baseman, whose throw to shortstop Francisco Lindor covering second was high, allowing Hernandez to be safe at second and Kiermaier safe at first.
Ohtani walked one out later to load the bases.
Senga allowed three runs and two hits in 1 1/3 innings with four walks in his third official appearance with the Mets in 2024.
“He was off,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t have it. He didn’t have the life on his fastball and a lot of balls out of hand, non-competitive pitches, especially the split. You could tell that the way that they were taking those pitches they were balls out of the hand.”
The 31-year-old strained the posterior capsule in his right shoulder early in spring training, then began a minor league rehabilitation stint July 3.
Senga made his major league season debut on July 26 when he allowed two runs and two hits over 5 1/3 innings in an 8-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves and was the winning pitcher, but was forced to leave the game due to a left calf strain.
Senga was placed on the injured list the following day and didn’t pitch again in a game until Sept. 21 when he pitched one shutout inning for Syracuse, the Mets’ triple-A affiliate.
Senga was the starter in Game 1 of the division series against Philadelphia on Oct. 5, allowing a 425-foot home run to Kyle Schwarber on his third pitch, then retired six of the next seven batters in his two innings.
When asked Saturday if he expected Senga “to go maybe three innings, something like that?” Mendoza replied, “Yeah.”
In all best-of-seven postseason series, teams winning Game 1 have gone on to take the series 123 of 191 times, 64%.
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