Most of the fans from a sold-out crowd of 43,882 had left Citi Field by the eighth inning on Thursday night, with the Dodgers pulling away in the final innings of a 10-2 National League Championship Series Game 4 victory over the New York Mets to advance. them to within one win of the World Series.
But just two innings earlier the joint was jumping, the chants of “Let’s go, Mets!” became louder and louder, and the Mets, who had staged one dramatic comeback after another this month, were one giant step away from making it a one-point game.
Three batters later, the stadium became so quiet that you could hear Grimace, the team’s unofficial mascot, crying into his purple fur as the Mets couldn’t make a dent in the nearly impenetrable back of the Dodgers’ bullpen, despite the bases were loaded with no outs.
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“Oh yeah,” reliever Evan Phillips said, when asked if he noticed how quickly Citi Field became quiet. “I think that was really deflating for them. To be able to stop that kind of momentum, even with a five-point lead, was huge.”
Phillips, who has not allowed a run in 14⅓ innings across 11 playoff appearances as of 2021, replaced starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto with one out and a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth and the Dodgers led 5-2.
The right-hander, making his first NLCS appearance, struck out Mark Vientos, who had homered off Yamamoto in the first inning, with a 97 mph fastball and got Pete Alonso to hit into a force out that ended the inning.
The Dodgers pushed the lead to 7-2 in the sixth on Mookie Betts’ two-run homer, but the Mets threatened to take a big chunk out of that cushion when Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte singled and J.D. Martinez walked to to open the second half. the sixth.
Pitching coach Mark Prior came to the mound to chat with Phillips, who probably didn’t need to be reminded of the two grand slams the Mets scored this postseason, one by Francisco Lindor in the Division Series win over Philadelphia, the other by Vientos in New York’s Game 2 victory over the Dodgers.
“Mark when he came out there gave me a second to reset my focus and shift to what I need to do, which is execute pitches and get guys out,” Phillips said. “He didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, because we are working very hard to come up with a good plan.
“The biggest thing was getting contact guys coming up, guys who are really hard to hit against, so just try to make good throws and hopefully get on the right side.”
Phillips jumped ahead of Jose Iglesias with two hits and the Mets second baseman whiffed on a 96 mph fastball.
Pinch-hitter Jeff McNeil committed an error on four pitches before taking a 85-mph sweeper under the zone for a ball. Phillips then came in with a 95 mph sinker, and McNeil flied out to shallow center field, leaving Nimmo at third.
With Phillips’ pitch count at 34, manager Dave Roberts called on right-hander Blake Treinen to face pinch-hitter Jesse Winker, who charged into a 95 mph fastball and sent a line drive to the warning track in right field, where Betts made the inning-ending catch.
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“It sounded pretty loud, but I think I missed the barrel just enough,” Treinen said. “I think the most important thing in situations like this is try not to think about the what-ifs and just concentrate on who is in the box. Try to execute your pitches.
“Certainly, I got away with it tonight against Winker. The bases were loaded, it was a 7-2 game, and if he had done better at that, it could have been a 7-6 game. But that wasn’t the case. I am grateful that we were able to get a clean sheet.”
Treinen, who missed most of the past two seasons due to shoulder injuries, pitched a scoreless seventh and pushed his scoreless streak to 21⅓ innings dating back to August 24, 15⅓ innings over his last 15 regular season games and six scoreless innings in five playoffs games.
“Sounds like Blake Treinen, right?” said Phillips. “It’s really great to see him back to his normal form. He is someone I have a lot of respect for. He has had a few serious injuries and is trying to recover from them. And I think this year you’re starting to see a lot of those old feelings for him come back.
Phillips, Treinen and Michael Kopech have pitched the most high-leverage innings, but the bullpen as a whole has given up just 12 earned runs in 45 innings of nine playoff games, for a 2.40 earned run average. Take away the five runs, starter Landon Knack gave up two relief innings in the Game 2 loss, and the bullpen ERA would be 1.47.
“The culture in the pen is that they just pick on each other,” Roberts said. “Regardless of when they get the baseball, they’ll be ready if called upon, which is huge.”
A relief corps that has also gotten significant contributions from left-handers Alex Vesia and Anthony Banda and right-handers Daniel Hudson and Ryan Brasier has helped put the Dodgers on the eve of their 22nd World Series and fourth in eight seasons.
“What I like most about our group down there is that we’re all in it together,” Phillips said. “It was a lot of fun to see each guy do his part in this postseason, hand it off to one guy after another, no matter the situation. Our mentality is that when the phone rings, we just do our job and leave.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
