Designate this! Pitchers help out at plate in NL playoffs

The Mets needed deGrom’s brilliance during a showdown with Kershaw in Game 1 that wasn’t close to decided until David Wright delivered a two-run single against Pedro Baez in the seventh to give the Mets a three-run cushion.

After dropping the series opener 3-1 to deGrom, Kershaw was 1-6 with a 4.99 ERA in 12 career postseason games, including nine starts.

The victor will go on to face the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.

The reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award victor snapped a five-start losing streak in the playoffs – the longest in Dodgers history. “You feel real confident that he’s pitched well out there, that he’s going to go out and do it again”.

Murphy worked the count to three balls and two strikes, but eventually flied out to right fielder Yasiel Puig, killing the Mets’ best chance at a rally. “Unfortunately we didn’t, so we’ll go across the country and try to win it out there”. He’s just very impressive, just very tough to square up. “You have to get on him early before he gets rolling to have a shot”. He also spent all of 2015 watching his teammate, Zack Greinke, finish with a 1.66 ERA, the best mark in the major leagues since Greg Maddux’s 1.63 in 1995.

“He’ll paint the corners”. He threw his fastballs just 37 percent of the time in his Game 2 start, his lowest percentage of the season, while throwing his slider 30 percent of the time, his third-highest rate of the season.

Mets: Making his postseason debut, deGrom beat Kershaw 3-1 in the series opener at Dodger Stadium. “He said he’d be ready”, the manager said.

Just like the night before, Utley did not get an at-bat.

“I’m actually really happy for him”, said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. Mattingly said the issue is whether Grandal can swing without pain; catching would not bother him. “Everybody outside that are baseball fans, definitely tune in; it’s going to be a fun one”. He threw 13 pitches in the second and 10 in the third before his no-hit bid was broken up by Murphy’s one-out homer to right in the fourth. Matt Harvey was not great on Monday night, but he did enough to get his team in position to win and now the Mets have the chance to advance to the NLCS with a victory in Game 4. Kershaw lost the decisive Game 4 of last year’s division series, further establishing the idea that he might not be an elite postseason pitcher. Mets starter Jacob deGrom was fantastic in his Game 1 start, firing seven scoreless innings with 13 strikeouts and one walk. Second baseman Howie Kendrick is 6-for-17 in the series with a double, a homer and four RBIs to go with his four runs scored.

Now that the team has faced him once recently, Dodgers hitters should at the very least know what to expect from deGrom.

Either way, no matter what, there can be only game left, Thursday night in Los Angeles. The Mets were able to steal Game 1 in Los Angeles, as Clayton Kershaw’s postseason woes continued in the opening game of the series.

“I made a few bad pitches and it wound up costing me three runs”, Matz said. “I really can’t think of anything not positive to say about the whole experience”.

The Dodgers had to win game four Tuesday to force a fifth game Thursday. They rode an early three-run lead to victory in Game 4.