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The Dodgers’ Casey Blake took advantage of one bad pitch by Mets starter John Maine Tuesday night as Los Angeles topped New York 5-3 at Dodger Stadium, handing the Mets their third straight loss.
Blake blasted a hanging slider into the seats beyond left field, turning a 3-2 Mets lead into a 5-3 deficit that would hold for the night. Maine otherwise pitched relatively well, but wound up charged with five runs (four earned) on eight hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings of work.
The Mets were again affected by Murphy’s law (if a fly ball can go wrong, it will) when left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped an easy first-inning liner to let leadoff hitter Juan Pierre reach base. The unearned run scored after Maine walked Rafael Furcal and then gave up an RBI single to Orlando Hudson. Hudson’s hit advanced our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,521 New York Mets games without a no-no.
Perhaps recognizing that run support is a rare commodity these days, Maine helped his own cause in the second by punching a bases-loaded liner through the mound to put the Mets up 2-1. David Wright added a third run in the third by singling home Carlos Beltran, who had reached base on a throwing error.
But the Mets couldn’t get key hits and wound up posting zeros in the fourth through ninth innings.
