Mets offense explodes early to level series with Dodgers

By Kevin Dotson, CNN

(CNN) — After being shut out in the first game of the National League Championship Series, the New York Mets offense came to life against the Dodgers in Game 2 Monday afternoon in Los Angeles. With a 7-3 bounce back win, the Mets evened the series at a game apiece.

Mets star Francisco Lindor led off the game with a home run against Dodgers reliever Ryan Brasier, who was getting the spot start as part of a planned bullpen game for the short-handed Dodgers pitching staff.

Lindor’s home run snapped a streak 33 consecutive scoreless innings by Dodgers pitchers, which was tied with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the most ever in a single postseason.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to a different relief pitcher in the second inning, but Landon Knack fared no better as the Mets offense continued to pile on the runs. New York scored five runs in the inning, capped by a grand slam from Mark Vientos to stretch the advantage to 6-0.

The Dodgers’ high-powered offense tried to mount a rally, scoring three unanswered runs to cut the Mets’ lead in half by the end of the sixth inning.

Los Angeles brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth inning, but the New York bullpen held its nerve to preserve the lead as Mets’ closer Edwin Diaz induced a flyout from the Dodgers’ Kike Hernández to extinguish the threat.

The Mets tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and Diaz picked up the save with a scoreless bottom of the inning to end the game.

After the game, Vientos told game broadcaster FOX about his mindset after the Dodgers loaded the bases by intentionally walking Lindor to face him ahead of his second inning grand slam.

“To be honest with you, I took it personal,” Vientos said with a smile.

“I was like ‘OK, you want me up to the plate?’” Vientos continued. “Honestly, I was trying to simplify the game. I wasn’t trying to do too much. But I did take it personal.”

The NLCS now shifts to the Big Apple where the Mets, who claimed the National League’s final wild card spot on the last day of the regular season, will look to continue their improbable run as they host the top-seeded Dodgers in Game 3 on Wednesday.

Lindor expressed his excitement to get back to Citi Field after the game.

“Mets nation is amazing, so I’m looking forward to being home,” Lindor told FOX. “We just gotta continue to stay the course and play as hard as we can day in and day out.”

Both teams will send their aces to the mound as the Dodgers’ Walker Buehler will face the Mets’ Luis Severino.

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