Turner, Dodgers Steamroll Mets 8-0 For Season Sweep
NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Turner's caught stealing turned into a two-out stolen base when a video review determined he reached around Amed Rosario to evade the rookie shortstop's tag, sparking a three-run first inning that started the record-setting Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-0 rout of the Mets on Sunday night and their first season sweep of New York.
Hyun-Jin Ryu (4-6), Tony Cingrani and Kenley Jansen combined on a one-hitter. New York's only baserunners were on Travis d'Arnaud's third-inning single and Brandon Nimmo's ninth-inning walk.
Los Angeles crushed the Mets like refuse in a trash compactor, outscoring them 57-15 over seven games and outhomering them 25-11.
Rookie Cody Bellinger hit his 32nd homer, a 447-foot, two-run drive in the eighth. Turner, who like Bellinger homered for the second straight day, raised his NL-leading batting average to .349.
Ryu extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings, striking out eight over seven innings as Los Angeles opened a season-high, 15½-game NL West lead. Cingrani and Jansen each pitched an inning.
Logan Forsythe hit a two-run single in the first and came home on Austin Barnes' double. Turner made it 5-0 in the third with a two-run, opposite-field drive to right-center off Steven Matz (2-5). Bellinger homered against Hansel Robles.
Los Angeles has won four straight, 13 of 14 and is 24-3 since July 4, losing three games to Atlanta. The Dodgers' 79-32 record puts them on pace for 115 wins, and they are just the fourth big league team to win 43 or more over a 50-game stretch — the first since the 1912 New York Giants, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others were the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 1884 St. Louis Maroons of the Union Association.
New York has lost nine straight to the Dodgers and seven of eight overall. At 49-60, the Mets are 11 games under .500 for the first time since July 2014.
Matz was removed after 102 pitches and 5 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and six hits. He is 0-4 with an 11.03 ERA in his last six starts.
Corey Seager singled with one out in the first, Turner hit into a forceout and then stole second. Umpire Will Little called him out, but replays showed Turner's right arm reached around Rosario's tag, and the call was reversed.
Bellinger walked and Matz failed to check the runners as the Dodgers pulled off a double steal. Forsythe stayed with a curveball and grounded the next pitch up the middle for a 2-0 lead, and Barnes doubled down the left-field line. Kike Hernandez singled, but d'Arnaud blocked a sliding Turner as he took the throw from center fielder Michael Conforto and tagged the runner.
Runners are 9 for 9 on steal attempts on Matz this year and 32 for 38 in his big league career. Turner doubled his season stolen base total to four, and 10 of his 13 homers have come off left-handers.
LEFT, TOO
RHP Yu Darvish played catch left-handed, two days after pitching seven shutout innings to win his Dodgers' debut. "He's got a three-pitch mix, and he can really do some things with the baseball left-handed," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
FAN CLUB
Hernandez wore the Yoenis Cespedes No. 52 chain, given to fans as a promotion Saturday. Hernandez said he got it from family who attended the game.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: LHP Clayton Kershaw, who hasn't pitched since injuring his back on July 23, will rejoin the Dodgers on Monday night in Phoenix. ... C Yasmani Grandal was out of the starting lineup, a day after leaving in the ninth inning due to a sore back. "I expect him to be ready to start on Tuesday," Roberts said. ... LHP Alex Wood (13-1) threw a bullpen session and adjusted his mechanics, three days after feeling fatigue after beating Atlanta. He is to start Wednesday. ... 1B Adrian Gonzalez, who hasn't played for the Dodgers since June 11 because of lumbar disk herniation, went 2 for 5 with two RBIs in the first two games of a rehab assignment at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Mets: RF-1B Jay Bruce missed his second straight games with a sore neck. ... Neil Walker, 3 for 27 since returning from a partially torn left hamstring on July 28, fouled out when he pinch hit in the sixth. ... RHP Matt Harvey (right shoulder stress injury) pitched a bullpen session and is to throw batting practice Tuesday. ... RHP Robert Gsellman, on the DL since late June with a strained left hamstring, allowed six runs — three earned — and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings for Double-A Binghamton at Harrisburg.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: RHP Kenta Maeda (10-4) starts Tuesday's series opener at Arizona.
Mets: RHP Chris Flexen (0-1) pitches Tuesday against visiting Texas in his third big league start.
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