TLDR: The Dodgers came into Sunday looking for a series sweep in Queens. Instead, the last-place Mets ambushed them with a two-inning explosion that turned a tight game into a laugher.
+Playing at home with a chance to salvage the finale
+Snapped a slide after losing 4 of their last 5
−43-62, among the worst records in baseball
−Lost Juan Soto to the IL with a Grade 2 calf strain
−Peralta also carrying an ERA above 5.00
Emmet Sheehan and Freddy Peralta both took the ball carrying ERAs north of 5.00, and neither one had been fooling anybody lately — Sheehan got roughed up for 6 earned runs in his last start against Philadelphia, Peralta gave up 7 to Milwaukee in his. This was two shaky rotations trying to out-survive each other, not a pitchers' duel.
Emmet Sheehan
(4-8)·5.29 ERA
Jul 20 @ Phillies
L
5.1IP
6ER
6K
1BB
87P
07/26 Lineup
Freddy Peralta
(5-9)·5.37 ERA
Jul 20 @ Brewers
L
5.1IP
7ER
6K
2BB
107P
07/26 Lineup
The Mets were already down their best hitter for this one. Juan Soto landed on the 10-day IL Saturday with a Grade 2 left calf strain — his second calf issue of the season — after exiting Friday's loss, leaving interim manager Andy Green to piece together a lineup without a five-time All-Star hitting .283 with 21 homers. The Dodgers, meanwhile, were riding a 4-game win streak into the finale, with Edwin Diaz and Kike Hernandez both nearing activation off the injured list.
For five innings it looked like business as usual — Dodgers up 3-1 after a couple of small-ball innings, Sheehan working around trouble. Then New York's lineup, Soto or no Soto, decided the series wasn't ending with a sweep.
The Mets scored 3 in the 6th and 4 more in the 7th, turning a manageable deficit into an 8-3 laugher despite getting outhit 9-6 on the day. It was the kind of sudden, lineup-wide rally that had been missing during New York's four-losses-in-five-games stretch, and it was enough to end LA's win streak at four.
It's a single game that won't move the standings much — the Dodgers still sit at 67-38 and the Mets at 43-62 — but it's a reminder the Dodgers' pitching depth is thinner than the record suggests, with Glasnow, Snell, Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone all still on the shelf.
The Mets won't confuse one salvage win for a turnaround with Soto out for weeks, but it at least gets Green's group out of Queens with something to build on before the schedule turns.
Dodgers 3, Mets 8: Final Score & Odds Recap — Mets Blow Up Late, Rout Dodgers 8-3 To Snap Skid
