Juan Uribe Knocks in the Crucial Run as Dodgers Take Series in NY

Dodgers 3 6 1

Mets 2 5 0

WP- Jansen (1-0)

LP- Rice (1-1)

S- League (6)

HR- Davis (4)

After the devastating bullpen collapse last night, the Dodgers needed to regroup and think about the morning series finale in New York. With a win today, the Dodgers would come back home with a .500 road trip. Hyun-jin Ryu goes to the mound in New York with many Korean fans looking on at Citi Field in Flushing. Both Ryu and Jeremy Hefner pitch well, and each one only allows one run on three hits. Ryu strikes out 8 Mets in his seven innings of work. Neither pitcher would be involved in the decision. The game remained tied until the ninth inning when the Dodgers edged out the Mets by one run thanks to a key double by Nick Punto, a RBI double by Ethier, and a RBI single from Juan Uribe. Kenley Jansen pitched out of a jam in the eighth which included an important strikeout of David Wright, but League allowed a run in the bottom of the ninth. Luckily League manages to get three outs, and there is not a walk-off win for the Mets today. Ryu puts in another solid outing as the Dodger offense stirs to life in the ninth.

Jeremy Hefner hits Carl Crawford in the back with a 0-2 pitch to open up the first inning at Citi Field. Nick Punto, who is batting second and playing second base today, is called out on strikes. Adrian Gonzalez grounds out on a slow roller, and Crawford takes second on the play. Matt Kemp, who’s getting his swing back, slaps a RBI single to left field. The Dodgers take a 1-0 lead. Andre Ethier flies out to deep left field to end the inning.

Hyun-jin Ryu has another solid outing and goes seven frames for the Dodgers in NY. Photo: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports

Hyun-jin Ryu sends down the Mets top of the order 1-2-3 in the home half of the first. He strikes out David Wright for good measure.

Hefner continues to struggle a bit in the early going as he walks the lead-off man Juan Uribe on five pitches in the second inning. Hefner comes back and easily retires Ramon Hernandez on a fly ball. Then Justin Sellers grounds into an inning ending 1-6-3 double play.

Ryu has another perfect inning, and the Mets go down in order in the bottom of the second.

Ryu strikes out against Hefner in the third inning. He’s now 3-for-8 on the year. Crawford and Punto make out, and the Dodgers go down in order.

Anthony Recker strikes out swinging versus Ryu in the bottom of the third. Collin Cowgill reaches safely on a fielding error by Justin Sellers on a bad hop grounder. Hernandez almost throws the ball away on a pickoff attempt. Luckily Punto is there to stop the ball from rolling all the way to the dugout. Hefner strikes out. Ruben Tejada flies out to Kemp, and the Mets can’t cash in that error.

In the fourth, Gonzo smokes a line drive to Ike Davis who snares it to save a base hit. Matt Kemp strikes out swinging. Ethier flies out.

After retiring Daniel Murphy on a foul pop-out, he walks Wright. Lucas Duda hits a broken bat single into left  field for the Mets first hit of the game. Marlon Byrd grounds into a double play to end the threat.

We head to the fifth inning, and Juan Uribe draws another lead-off walk. He’s been much more disciplined at the plate lately. Hernandez erases the lead-off walk by grounding into, you guessed it, a double play. Sellers flies out.

Ryu badly fools Davis, and he strikes out swinging in the bottom of the fifth. Cowgill draws a two-out walk, but Ryu strikes out Hefner to end the frame. That’s Ryu’s fifth strikeout.

Ryu strikes out again against Hefner. Carl Crawford breaks out of his little slump by singling up the middle in the sixth. Punto grounds into a force out, and Crawford is out at second base. Adrian Gonzalez flies out to the warning track in deep left field for out three.

Ryu dangerously walks the lead-off hitter Tejada in the bottom of the sixth. Murphy hits a soft single to right field, and the Mets are threatening with two on and nobody out. Tejada takes third base on a wild pitch

Juan Uribe should be starting at third base for the Dodgers. He has a very productive game with 3 walks and a RBI single. Photo: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

while Wright is at the plate. Tejada brings in the tying run on a sacrifice fly from Wright. 1-1. The ball hits the knob of Duda’s bat, but the umpire calls it s foul. Ryu whiffs Duda on a 3-2 pitch for a big out. Marlon Byrd then doubles over the glove of a jumping Uribe. The Mets have runners at second and third with two outs. Rick Honeycutt goes out for a mound meeting with Ryu’s interpreter. Ryu comes back and strikes out Davis again to end the threat and contain the damage to one run.

In the seventh, Matt Kemp legs out an infield single. Then Matt Kemp has a costly TOOTBLAN when he tries to tag up on a Ethier fly ball. He stumbles and is tagged out easily. Uribe walks for the third time. Hernandez grounds out softly per usual.

Ryu’s eighth strikeout victim is Anthony Recker in the bottom of the seventh. He’s now at 101 pitches. Cowgill flies out to Crawford. Honeycutt comes out to talk to Ryu. Gonzalez makes a nice catch in foul territory for the final out.

Hyun-jin Ryu pitched seven innings, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts and 3 walks on 109 pitches.

Brandon Lyon comes in for the eighth inning in relief of Hefner. Hefner went seven innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks on 93 pitches. Davis is unable to reach over the fence in foul territory to make a catch similar to one Gonzalez made earlier and JHair made last night at third base. Hairston ends up flying out. New York will make another pitching change, and they bring in lefty Scott Rice to face Crawford. Davis backhands a grounder and retires Crawford.

Kenley Jansen comes in for the bottom of the eighth inning hoping to preserve the tie. Tejada singles on a 0-2 count. Jansen walks Murphy, and once again the Dodger bullpen is on the verge of blowing this tied game. Honeycutt goes out to counsel Jansen. David Wright swings and misses on three consecutive pitches from Kenley as he goes down on strikes. Duda flies out to right. Kenley throws some serious heat at Byrd (95-mph) to strikes him out and get out of the jam!

We head to the ninth. Scott Rice is still in for the Mets. Nick Punto smacks a line drive double to right field for the first Dodger extra base hit of the game. Punto moves to third on a groundout by Gonzalez. Matt Kemp is intentionally walked. Andre Ethier comes up clutch as he singles in Punto! The Dodgers regain the lead, 2-1. Bobby Parnell comes in from the New York bullpen to relieve Rice. Juan Uribe, having a great game with three walks, hits an infield single on a 3-2 count to bring in another run! 3-1 Dodgers. Hernandez grounds into the double play.

Ok, now we look to Brandon League to somehow get three outs here. Ike Davis promptly homers to cut the Dodger lead to one run. League really served up a meatball there. Justin Turner pops out. Jordany Valdespin strikes out swinging. Mike Baxter grounds out to Adrian Gonzalez who feeds League the ball at first to end the game!

The Dodgers are now 10-11 and they win 3 of the 6 road games. The bullpen barely held on, and that Juan Uribe RBI became very important.

The Dodgers head home now for a three-game set with a hot Milwaukee team beginning Friday night at Dodger Stadium. Then Colorado, who is in first place at the moment, will come into town to face the Dodgers for the first time this season.