After waiting all day to start the game, it took until the 10th inning Sunday for it to finally end.
With the Dodgers and New York Mets tied in a series finale delayed almost four hours by rain at Citi Field, Mets pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme squared around to bunt twice to lead off the bottom of the 10th, but took two strikes.
On the third pitch, with the Dodgers keeping their infield pulled in, in anticipation of another bunt, Guillorme pulled back and swung.
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The result: A walk-off double that snuck between Freddie Freeman and the first-base line, giving the Mets a 2-1 win that snapped the Dodgers’ winning streak at six games.
“He was up there clearly to bunt,” manager Dave Roberts said of Guillorme, explaining why the defense, and Freeman in particular, was still in on the grass even with two strikes.
“Even if we’re [playing the infield] back, we’re not on the line right there,” Roberts added, doubtful Freeman would have been able to prevent the game-winning hit from his normal positioning at first base. “Gave up a ground ball. Unfortunately, it had eyes.”
The Dodgers (53-39) caught no such breaks at the plate Sunday, getting shut out by former teammate Max Scherzer over seven dominant innings.
While Dodgers rookie starter Bobby Miller kept it close early on, the Mets (43-50) loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth. Then, with one out, Miller misplayed a bouncing comebacker from Brandon Nimmo that could have been turned into a potential inning-ending double-play.
“Really no excuse,” said Miller, who had to settle for only one out at first base as the game’s opening run crossed the plate. “I have to make that play. We’ve practiced it enough.”
Roberts let Miller go no further, summoning reliever Brusdar Graterol to escape the inning.
Miller was dealing with “a little discomfort in the knee” near the end of his outing, which concluded after only 77 pitches. Roberts said he would have turned to Graterol anyway with star shortstop Francisco Lindor due up next.
Miller, who unsuccessfully lobbied to conclude the inning, said after the game his knee felt fine.
Outfielder Jason Heyward wasn’t so lucky.
After colliding with Mets infielder Jeff McNeil while trying to slide into second base in the second inning, Heyward was shaken up and checked out by a trainer.
Initially, the 33-year-old stayed in the game, even diving for a ball in right field a half-inning later.
Before his next at-bat, though, he was replaced by Jake Marisnick, exiting with what Roberts later described as a “neck stinger.”
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Heyward did pass a concussion test — he previously had a concussion in 2021, so “we are sensitive to that,” Roberts said — but it is considered day to day. He declined to comment on his injury postgame.
The Dodgers scored their lone run in the eighth inning, putting two aboard against reliever Trevor Gott before tying the score on a Mookie Betts single — his seventh hit and third RBI of the series.
The Dodgers stranded a two-out, pinch-hit double from Chris Taylor in the ninth, then automatic runner James Outman at third in the 10th, setting up Guillorme’s game-winning hit against reliever Nick Robertson.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.