Mets Offense Overshadows Shaky Matt Harvey In NLDS Game 3 Win

By Kenneth Teape | Oct 13, 2015

Matt Harvey has been heavily scrutinized in the media, on social network and by fans in general after the issue about his innings limit came up. He would have had another thing to hear about Monday night into Tuesday morning had the New York Mets offense not exploded against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLDS.

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The Mets offense picked up the beleaguered Harvey tonight on an evening that he didn’t have his best stuff. Harvey was far from his dominant self in his first career postseason game, but it ended up not hurting the Mets as the Dodgers’ pitching staff had an even tougher night against the Mets lineup.

Harvey was able to get the Dodgers down 1-2-3 in the first inning to get the crowd going, but it was tough sailing from there on out. He wouldn’t have another 1-2-3 inning in the outing, as he struggled with his command all evening. The biggest trouble came in the third inning, when Harvey allowed four straight hits to start the inning that was punctuated by a Yasmani Grandal bases clearing double to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

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Harvey was able to escape further damage, lucking out that the Dodgers were at the bottom of their order. After getting Enrique Hernandez to fly out to center field, he struck out his counterpart Brett Anderson. Howie Kendrick then hit a hard line drive, but David Wright was there to snag it out of the air and end the Dodgers inning.

That would be the only runs Harvey allowed, but he labored through his five innings of work. He wasn’t sharp despite picking up seven strikeouts as he really had to work against the Dodgers. He finished the game with five innings pitched, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits and two walks to go along with the seven strikeouts.

But, Harvey was picked up immediately by his teammates following that tough second inning. The Mets weren’t trailing for long, as their lineup got right to work against Anderson in the bottom of the inning.

Oct 12, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey (33) reacts during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game three of the NLDS at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The first four batters for the Mets, like the Dodgers in the top half of the inning, reached base. Travis d’Arnaud got the job done in that group, picking up an RBI single that knocked in Yoenis Cespedes. After a Wilmer Flores infield single loaded the bases, the Mets had the same problem the Dodgers did, as the bottom of their order was coming up to the plate.

Juan Lagares hit into a fielder’s choice, followed by a Harvey strikeout. But then Curtis Granderson came up to the plate and delivered a bases clearing double to deep right field to put the Mets up 4-3. They never looked back, as the Mets rode that outburst for the remainder of the game.

d’Arnaud would get to Anderson again in the bottom of the third, launching a two-run homer to stake the Mets to a 6-3 lead. That was the last inning of work for Anderson, who finished his postseason debut with an unsightly six earned runs in three innings, allowing seven hits, zero walks and striking out three.

Alex Wood relieved Anderson and didn’t have any better success. Daniel Murphy got him for an RBI single before Cespedes came up and launched a bomb into left field into the second deck. That put the already elated crowd into even more of a frenzy as the first playoff game at Citi Field.

Granderson would add more damage in the seventh inning, picking up his fifth RBI of the game with a two-RBI double. That tied a Mets franchise record for RBI in a postseason game, and the 13th run that he pushed across the plate set a franchise record as well.

The Mets will be heading into Game 4 with all of the momentum after picking up a victory in Game 3, by a score of 13-7 after Erik Goeddel was unable to get an out in the ninth inning and allowed the first four Dodgers of the inning to get on base. That home run by Kendrick off Goeddel will also put these two teams into the record books for most runs in an NLDS game.

They will be looking to put away the Dodgers with Steven Matz on the mound. It will not be an easy task though, as the Mets will be looking to defeat Clayton Kershaw for the second time in this series.

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