NEW YORK — Juan Soto hit a tying single in the seventh inning, Francisco Alvarez delivered a big double in his return from the minors and the New York Mets rallied past the Angels 7-5 on Monday night.
Brett Baty launched a two-run homer for the Mets, who erased an early four-run deficit to match their largest comeback victory this season. They scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on an error by catcher Logan O’Hoppe, and Brandon Nimmo added a sacrifice fly that made it 7-5.
Brooks Raley (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth in his second outing since coming back from Tommy John surgery, earning his first win since April 2024.
Edwin Díaz struck out the 2-3-4 hitters in the ninth for his 20th save in 22 opportunities.
Taylor Ward had three RBIs for the Angels, who tagged ineffective Mets ace Kodai Senga for four earned runs in three innings. O’Hoppe, who grew up on Long Island about 45 miles from Citi Field, hit a solo homer.
Baty’s homer off starter Tyler Anderson trimmed it to 4-2 in the fourth.
Trailing 5-2, the Mets loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh. Francisco Lindor beat out a potential double-play ball to drive in a run, then stole second. Soto tied it when he grounded a two-run single off reliever Reid Detmers.
Key moment: José Fermin (2-1) walked Baty with one out in the eighth, and he went to third when Alvarez doubled off the right-field fence over Chris Taylor’s head.
Third baseman Luis Rengifo went to his knees to snag a grounder by pinch-hitter Ronny Mauricio, then spun around and had difficulty getting the ball out of his glove. Rengifo’s low, wide throw to the plate went off O’Hoppe’s mitt, allowing Baty to score.
Key stats: Senga had permitted three earned runs or fewer in 31 straight starts dating to June 23, 2023, which was the longest active streak in the majors. … Lindor went 0 for 5 and is hitless in his last 26 at-bats. … Anderson is winless in 16 starts since beating San Francisco on April 18. He is 0-6 during that stretch.
NEW YORK — It had been more than two weeks since Juan Soto, the only man in baseball with a richer contract than Shohei Ohtani, had recorded an extra-base hit for the New York Mets.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday night at Citi Field, however, Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin provided him the perfect opportunity to get back on track.
After a solid opening three innings for Gonsolin, who was making an all-important start for the Dodgers a night after their 13-inning marathon victory in the series opener, the right-hander had made a mess for himself in the fourth.
With two outs, he issued back-to-back four-pitch walks to load the bases. The Dodgers’ early one-run lead then disappeared when Starling Marte reached on a half-swing infield single.
That brought up Soto, who had underperformed through much of his first two months in Queens after signing a $765-million mega-contract with the Mets. Gonsolin got ahead 1-and-2 in the count, before narrowly missing with a slider. He tried to come back with his trademark splitter. But Soto was all over it, crushing a two-run double that proved to be the decisive blow in New York’s 5-2 victory over the Dodgers.
“At the outset, I was pretty optimistic, getting a 2-0 lead,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And then there was that [fourth inning] where he sort of lost command, had two outs and the back-to-back walks. … And obviously the big hit from Soto with two outs. He just couldn’t kind of limit damage right there.”
In what likely will be a preview of what’s to come for the Dodgers (32-20) over a grueling portion of their schedule in the next month, the team’s fate Saturday was almost entirely reliant upon the performance of their starter.
On Friday night, their already overworked bullpen had been gassed again by their extra-inning gantlet. And though they won that game, and freshened up their pitching staff by calling up Bobby Miller on Saturday for some extra length, Roberts had his hands tied as Gonsolin started to lose command.
Juan Soto runs to first base after hitting a two-run double in the fourth inning Saturday against the Dodgers.
(Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)
Over his first three innings against the Mets (31-21), Gonsolin had been fine, giving up one run in a two-out rally in the second by skirting more danger in the third by dialing up an inning-ending double-play with runners on the corners.
The fourth was a different story.
Luis Torrens led with a single. Tyrone Taylor clobbered a fly ball that seemed like a no-doubter off the bat before dying in a stiff breeze at the left-field warning track. Then, Gonsolin became erratic, throwing eight consecutive balls to Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor to load the bases for the heart of the Mets’ order.
“Very upset with the walks,” Gonsolin said. “Don’t walk those guys, potentially that inning looks a lot different. Just need to attack guys.”
Maybe on a night the Dodgers’ bullpen was fresh, Roberts could have considered summoning a lefty to face Soto once Gonsolin began floundering. But after using seven of his eight relievers the previous night, he had no choice but to leave Gonsolin in as the four-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger came to the plate.
Five pitches later, Soto changed the game — sending Citi Field into euphoria with his go-ahead double that banged high off the wall in right center, the inning only ending when Marte was thrown out at home trying to score from first as the trail runner.
“Thought I executed a slider really well there,” Gonsolin said of a two-strike offering that Soto didn’t bite on. “He’s got a really good eye. Barely missed.
“Then yeah, the splitter, thought it was a solid one, just elevated it. And he didn’t miss it.”
Gonsolin did return to the mound and completed the fifth, saving at least one inning that otherwise would have fallen upon the Dodgers’ bullpen. Miller also contributed two innings at the end, giving up one run in the eighth and getting out of a bases-loaded jam.
But on the other side, Mets starter David Peterson had no trouble going deep, using sharp command with his sinker, seven strikeouts and three double plays to get through 7 ⅔ innings of two-run ball.
“There wasn’t much offensive energy tonight, as far as how we were swinging, the at-bats we were taking,” Roberts said. “So to try to chase and use leverage guys in a down game, it just didn’t make any sense for me.”
So goes things for the Dodgers right now; ever mindful of their MLB-leading bullpen workload, and needing better production from their starters than what Gonsolin provided.
