The Los Angeles Dodgers put on a clinic in their first road game of the NLCS on Wednesday night, shutting out the New York Mets 8-0 to take a 2-1 series lead. There is still plenty of baseball left to be played, but the team to take a Game 3 in a knotted seven-game series gains an edge, to be sure.
Following the win, Fangraphs simulates that the Dodgers have a 77.6% chance of winning the LCS, up 15.8% from before Game 3.
In a shutout win with so many runs scored and eight runners left on base for New York, there's no shortage of people to credit, but the first people looked to are the pitching staff and offensive contributors. Shohei Ohtani (3) and Enrique Hernandez (2) both batted multiple runs in, while the five Dodgers pitchers (Walker Buehler starting) combined for a 0.889 WHIP.
Roberts made sure to credit catcher Will Smith, who will not get many of the headlines.
"This entire postseason I think Will Smith is doing a fantastic job catching the baseball, calling the game. Not trying to get too predictable, and appreciating the game score and all that stuff. He's done a great job with the starters, relievers. It was just game management."
Roberts specifically pointed to one of the crucial moments of Game 3 where Buehler struck Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor—who has one of New York's three RBI in this series—out in the second inning with the bases loaded. The pitch called was a knuckle curve, a pitch Buehler threw 16 times in Game 3. Here's how they panned out between 10 strikes and six balls:
Here's how that seven-pitch at-bat against Lindor played out:
Buehler and Smith attacked the at-bat with a mix of velocity and the slow, deceptive movement of the knuckle curve, oscillating back and forth. The clinching knuckle curve was precariously placed, close to middle-middle in the strike zone, but Lindor swang just over the top of it as the ball dropped. A gutsy call from Smith to be sure, but one that shows he had all the confidence in the world of Buehler's ability.
Walker Buehler strikes out Francisco Lindor to get out of a bases-loaded jam 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/Jk3ch2cR4a
— MLB (@MLB) October 17, 2024
It also pushed the Mets' win probability down 8.2% to 27.9%, a massive at-bat for the second inning that positioned the Dodgers for success the rest of the night.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dave Roberts Called Out an Unsung Hero After Dodgers' Game 3 Shutout Against Mets.
