Sasaki’s masterclass and Tucker’s late surge lifts Dodgers past Mets

The Dodgers (66-38) improved to 5-2 on their current road trip after a 4-2 win over the Mets (43-61) Friday night in the Big Apple. Roki Sasaki pitched seven impressive innings, and Kyle Tucker padded the lead in the top of the eighth with a two-run blast.

Sasaki delivered a brilliant performance, pitching 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 9 batters. After the big velocity spike last outing, Sasaki threw just a few over 100-mph. His splitter and slider took center stage with MLB career highs in whiffs and swings and misses. His new larger glove plus a barrage of grunts helped Sasaki dominate in New York again.

Tucker broke through with a crucial two-run home run, going 2-for-3 with an intentional walk and 2 RBIs to carry the offense.

The Dodgers got the leadoff man on in six of the first seven innings, but they only had one run against Manaea and Mets pitching to show for it.

The Mets got on the board with one out in the second after Luis Robert Jr. took a Sasaki fastball deep for a solo home run.

The Dodgers managed to get runners at the corners again the next inning thanks to back-to-back singles from Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts to start the top of the fourth. A Miguel Rojas sac fly tied the game 1-1.

Sasaki’s splitter was unreal tonight. He absolutely dominated Carson Benge in a memorable at-bat.

Ohtani tested his knee again when he tried to stretch a double into a triple to lead off the fifth inning. It’s encouraging to see him feel feisty on his rehabbed knee, but it was also a detriment to the game to erase the base runner in a low-scoring tied game.

Freeman collected his second base hit of the night against Manaea, a leadoff double.

Rojas wasn’t able to drive in a second run with a sac fly. Benge made up for the fielding miscue when he threw out Freeman at home on a fly ball hit by Rojas to preserve the tie.

Things got even more dire for the last-place Mets in the bottom half of the sixth. They pinch-hit for Juan Soto who was taken out of the game for calf tightness. Then Sasaki continued to dominate, striking out the side for the first time in his MLB career.

A couple of soft hits and another sac fly against the Mets bullpen gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in the seventh. The Dodgers lead baseball in sacrifice fly balls this season.

A Kyle Tucker leadoff infield hit and Teoscar Hernandez blooper to shallow right field put the Dodgers in business to start the frame. The Dodgers moved up to second and third when Dalton Rushing hit into a fielder’s choice. The Mets had to throw home to get Tucker, allowing the Dodgers to give Ohtani the perfect opportunity to break the tie.

Freeman got his third hit of the night and stole a base in the eighth, and the Dodgers finally got that big bomb to drive him in. Tucker’s first home run since June 27 was a two-run blast against A.J. Minter to make it 4-1.

Francisco Alvarez went deep against Evan Phillips in the bottom of the eighth to make it 4-2.

Tanner Scott came in and shut the door on the Mets in the home half of the ninth to secure his 16th save.

Despite going 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position, the Dodgers take down the Mets again and are now 4-0 against them this season.

Friday particulars

Home runs: Kyle Tucker (8); Luis Robert Jr. (4), Francisco Alvarez (12)

WP — Roki Sasaki (4-5): 7 IP, 3 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 9 strikeouts (94 pitches)

LP — Brooks Raley (4-5): 1 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 1 wallk, no strikeouts (23 pitches)

S — Tanner Scott (16)

Up next

Yoshinobu Yamamoto ( 10-6, 2.78 ERA, 0.88 WHIP) takes the mound Saturday (4:15 p.m., FOX). New York’s starter Nolan McLean (7-6, 3.34 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) dominated the Dodgers lineup in April, holding them to two hits in seven innings.