Dodgers tie season mark with 33 consecutive scoreless innings, top Mets 9-0 in NLCS opener

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After spending the first seven years of his big league career in the East, Jack Flaherty Came home he joined a winning team in the Los Angeles Dodgers and helped make some playoff history.

Flaherty combined for a three-hitter and Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers tied the postseason record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings in Sunday night's 9-0 victory over the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series opener.

“I saw some families there when I was warming up and I've been here to games with them before, so it lets you relax a little bit,” he said. “Tried the last couple of outs in some big games. Just allowed me to be myself and go out and pitch and trust my stuff and trust the guys behind me.”

Los Angeles is knocked out A wild Kodai Senga In the second inning, he built a six-run lead through the fourth and matched the scoreless record of Baltimore Orioles pitchers in the first four games of the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers.

“MVP! MVP!” Shohei Ohtani Went 2 for 4 with a walk and drove in another.

Mookie Betts added a three-run double in the eighth to cap the largest shutout victory in Dodgers postseason history, the Mets' most lopsided postseason shutout loss.

“Our strength started with Jack,” Bates said. “Jack really gave it to us today.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Monday afternoon.

Flaherty allowed two hits over seven in the Dodgers' first scoreless postseason start since Clayton Kershaw's eight in the 2020 NL Wild Card Series.

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought he did a great job filling the strike zone with his entire mix. Once we got a lead, he did a great job of just going after those guys and attacking. Getting seven innings in a long series was huge for us.

Flaherty walked away to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 53,503. The 28-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank returned home from Detroit at the July 30 trade deadline and has been a steady presence in a rotation due to injuries.

“He's got an aura about him,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He's super competitive, super focused.”

Flaherty received a hug from Roberts, and then the pitcher hugged his mother who sat behind home plate. Also on hand were some of his friends from their Little League days in the San Fernando Valley.

“This game is a lot of fun and I've been lucky to do it since I was a kid,” Flaherty said. “The more pressure they get, I just tell the guys it's going to be fun. We have to remember that sometimes.”

Flaherty retired his first nine batters, extending the Dodgers' streak to 28, before walking Francisco Lindor in the fourth. New York's only hits were a pair of singles by Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias in the fifth. Flaherty hit a six.

“He was getting ahead with his fastball and then the slider, the breaking ball, the slow curve wasn't keeping us off balance, but he was getting ahead and making pitches,” rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He tried to chase us, which we did with the order for the first time. He was right then.”

Daniel Hudson and Ben Kasparius pitched an inning each.

Lindor was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and Pete Alonso was hitless in three at-bats with a walk and a strikeout.

The Dodgers rallied from the brink of elimination against San Diego to win the NL Division Series in five games, including shutouts in the final two games.

They began their pursuit of a record 25th NL pennant by chasing Senga after 1 1/3 innings in just his third overall start in an injury-ravaged year. The Japanese right-hander walked four of his first eight batters, including three in a row over a 14-pitch span in the first inning.

“He wasn't having it,” Mendoza said. “His fastball lacked life and missed a lot of balls, non-competitive pitches, especially splits. You could tell the way they took those pitches they were balls out of hand.”

Senga walked the bases loaded with one out in the first, while only seven of his 23 pitches were thrown for strikes. Max Muncy scored up the middle, Bates and a hobbled Freddie Freeman, who touched the plate with his left foot to protect his sprained right ankle. He staggered into the arms of Bates, who steadied the much larger and taller Freeman.

Ohtani chased Senga with an RBI single in the second and the Dodgers tacked on three runs in the fourth off reliever David Peterson as Tommy Edman and Freeman had RBI singles.

Next UP

Mets Sean Manaea started Game 2 after winning Game 3 of the NL Division Series against Philadelphia. The Dodgers will be facing a lefty starter for the first time this postseason. The Dodgers have not said who will start a bullpen game for them.

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