A pair of National League division leaders open up a series on the diamond up in the Big Apple. The Los Angeles Dodgers are on the road as they kick off a three-game set with the New York Mets Tuesday night. Los Angeles closed a four-game set on the road with the Marlins in South Beach Monday evening: they earned an 8-1 victory on Sunday afternoon in the third game of the set. New York missed a chance at a sweep of a four-game series with the Rockies at home as they were edged 1-0 Sunday afternoon. The teams split a four-game series in the first set this season at Dodger Stadium from June 2-5.
Los Angeles bounced back from a narrow loss Saturday as they rolled to a one-sided victory Sunday afternoon to ensure no worse than a split of the four-game set. The Dodgers entered Monday with a 19.5-game lead in the NL West, leaving them with a magic number of 16 to clinch the division title. They were 7.5 games ahead of the Mets for the top record in the National League. On Sunday, Mookie Betts (run, two RBI), Max Muncy (two runs) and Justin Turner (two RBI) each had three hits in the win. Betts (his 31st) and Trayce Thompson (his seventh) each homered to lead the Dodgers’ attack. Julio Urias (14-7) earned the win as he threw six innings, allowing one run on one hit with four walks and seven strikeouts before departing.
Andrew Heaney is slated to take the mound for his 10th start of the season in this contest for the Dodgers. He comes in 2-1 with a 1.94 ERA, a 1.008 W HIP, 12 walks and 62 strikeouts over 41.2 innings of work on the year. Heaney earned the win in his last start, which came Wednesday on the road against the Brewers. He threw six innings, allowing two runs on four hits with one walk and 10 strikeouts in a game the Dodgers won 12-6. In his last three starts, Heaney is 1-1 with a 4.61 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP, two walks and 25 strikeouts over 13.2 innings of work. Heaney makes his fourth career appearance and second start against the Mets in this contest. He is 0-1 with a 1.08 ERA, a 0.72 WHIP, one walk and five strikeouts over 8.1 innings of work against them. Heaney has no record with a 0.00 ERA, a 0.429 WHIP, no walks and two strikeouts in 2.1 innings in two career appearances, both in relief, at Citi Field.