Freeman and Stone help the Dodgers sweep a doubleheader against the struggling Mets
Gavin Stone struck out seven in seven innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the reeling New York Mets 3-0 on Tuesday night for a doubleheader sweep.
Stone (5-2) allowed three hits and walked none. Alex Vesia got six outs for his second save, finishing a three-hitter.
The NL West-leading Dodgers snapped a five-game losing streak with a 5-2 win in the opener. Freddie Freeman hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning, and Teoscar Hernández had three hits.
Los Angeles trailed 2-0 before Freeman hit an RBI single in the eighth, and Chris Taylor — mired in a 7-for-72 slump — drove in Hernández with a well-placed bunt in the ninth against Adam Ottavino.
"I think even in the eighth inning, being able to get across one run there on that was huge," Taylor said. "We had been dead in the water for a few games, so just to get one run across was big. Trying to get one in the ninth instead of two is a big difference."
Mookie Betts opened the 10th with an RBI single against Jorge López (1-2), driving in automatic runner Andy Pages. After Shohei Ohtani struck out swinging, Freeman hit a drive to right for his sixth homer.
The Dodgers then got off to a fast start in the second game. Will Smith homered in the first against Jose Quintana, and Miguel Rojas hit an RBI double in the second. Miguel Vargas went deep in the sixth.
Stone threw 87 pitches, 63 for strikes.
Daniel Hudson (2-1) got the win in the opener, escaping a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth. Blake Treinen pitched a perfect 10th for his first save since Sept. 28, 2021.
Los Angeles' five-game slide was the team's longest streak since it dropped six in a row in April 2019.
Quintana (1-5) allowed eight hits in six innings in the second game. He struck out three and walked none.
New York has dropped seven of eight. It is just 10-24 since April 21.
In the opener, New York wasted a stellar performance by Tylor Megill, who struck out nine while pitching seven innings of three-hit ball.
Francisco Lindor snapped a lengthy drought with a two-run homer for the Mets, who were trying to win back-to-back games for the first time since May.
"At the end of the day we have the bases loaded in the ninth and we couldn't cash in," manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Lindor's drive in the third in his second at-bat after changing his walk-up music to The Temptations' "My Girl" was his first homer since May 10. He hit just .197 in 66 at-bats between round-trippers, though he entered Tuesday with four multi-hit efforts in his last seven games.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani sat out the nightcap after going 0 for 5 in his first game at Citi Field since signing with Los Angeles in December. He was cheered in each of his first three plate appearances before hearing scattered boos from a late-arriving crowd to the single-admission doubleheader in the eighth and 10th inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Dodgers: 2B Max Muncy (right oblique), who was placed on the injured list May 17, is no longer swinging a bat in Arizona. ... RHP Evan Phillips (right hamstring) is expected to make one more rehab appearance before returning to the Dodgers on Friday.
Mets: C Francisco Alvarez (left thumb) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment Thursday with Double-A Binghamton. Alvarez was expected to miss six to eight weeks when he underwent surgery April 23. ... RHP Kodai Senga (shoulder) played catch Tuesday, four days after he received a cortisone shot.
UP NEXT
The three-game, two-day series concludes on Wednesday, when Mets LHP David Peterson will be activated from the injured list to make his season debut against Dodgers LHP James Paxton (5-0, 3.49 ERA). Peterson is coming back from left hip surgery.
