Muncy Hits 2 HRs, Scherzer Sharp As Dodgers Rout Mets 14-4
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Max Muncy hit a pair of two-run homers and Max Scherzer worked out of some trouble over six solid innings Sunday night, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 14-4 rout of the New York Mets and a sweep of the three-game series.
The Dodgers, who have gone 10-4 since acquiring Scherzer and Trea Turner from the Washington Nationals on July 30, trail the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants by four games.
Los Angeles is six games ahead of the second wild card, the San Diego Padres.
Muncy homered in the second off Carlos Carrasco and in the sixth off Yennsy Diaz. In between, he flew out to the warning track in center in the fourth against Jake Reed. The two-homer game was the second of the season for Muncy, who went deep twice against the Colorado Rockies on July 17. It was the seventh multi-homer game of his career.
Scherzer (10-4) took the mound with a 3-0 lead thanks to a two-run homer by former Mets utilityman Justin Turner and a solo shot by Will Smith, who homered in all three games. The Dodgers doubled the lead in the second on an RBI double by Turner, immediately before Muncy's first homer.
Scherzer allowed two runs on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. The Mets had at least two runners on base in each of the first four innings, but went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position against Scherzer, who limited the damage to run-scoring groundouts by Jeff McNeil in the third and Michael Conforto in the fourth.
Scherzer helped his cause by lofting a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Mets, down 9-2 when Scherzer exited, scored twice in the seventh when Brandon Nimmo raced home on a wild pitch and J.D. Davis, batting with the bases loaded, flew out to the wall in center. But Edwin Uceta struck out Jonathan Villar. New York finished the series 3 for 30 with runners in scoring position.
With the remnants of the crowd of 31,205 chanting "Let's go Dodgers," Los Angeles scored three times in the eighth on a two-run single by Smith and an RBI double by Chris Taylor. The Dodgers scored twice in the ninth when Matt Beaty hit a two-run homer off Mets outfielder Brandon Drury. Fellow outfielder Kevin Pillar got the final out.
Carrasco (0-1) gave up six runs on six hits and one walk with three strikeouts over two innings.
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