Less than 24 hours after the New York Mets ended Andre Ethier's 30-game hitting streak, the Dodgers outfielder showed he is still locked in, helping Los Angeles prevent a three-game sweep at Citi Field. Ethier started a new streak on Sunday, sneaking a two-run homer over the right field wall off of R.A. Dickey in the seventh inning that proved to be the margin of victory in the 4-2 game.
Dickey dealt with baserunners all day long as he surrendered 10 hits and walked two, but Ethier's blast was his only big mitake.
The man opposing Dickey, Clayton Kershaw, was rarely in trouble, holding the Mets to six hits and just one run in 6 2/3 innings for his fourth win of the season. Kershaw's record against New York is now 3-0 for his career, including two straight showdowns with Dickey.
New York's offense did have a chance to take control of the game in the seventh inning. Jason Pridie led off with a walk and Jose Reyes continued to scorch the ball with a single after a Chin-lung Hu strikeout. Saturday's hero Justin Turner grounded into a fielder's choice, as Kershaw's day was over, relieved by Kenley Jansen. David Wright then worked a six-pitch walk to load the bases for Jason Bay, but the left fielder flied out to left to end the inning.
The Mets took one more run at the Dodgers, this time in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Daniel Murphy got on with a pinch hit single and scored on Reyes' fourth triple of the series. However, Carlos Beltran flied out to right for the second out and Wright feebly struck out to end the game against fill-in closer Vicente Padilla.
Terry Collins and his team will have to rebound quickly as they will hop right on a flight to Colorado and kick off a three-game series against the Rockies on Monday night. Chris Capuano (2-3) will start things off against Jhoulys Chacin (4-2) with first pitch scheduled for 8:40.