Dodgers 8 - 3 Mets
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Dodgers take aim at sweep of Mets

Jul 22, 2012 - 1:59 PM (Sports Network) - Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Niese both pitched well in their first game following the All-Star break, but neither came away with a victory.

The two square off this afternoon in the finale of a three-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

Eovaldi earned his first victory of the season -- and second of his brief career -- at Arizona on July 5 with six innings of one-run ball. After scoring just five runs over the previous seven games the righty had started, the Dodgers scored four times against Arizona.

Eovaldi then got the call on Monday versus the Phillies and suffered a 3-2 setback, yielding all three runs on six hits and two walks over five innings. He also allowed two home runs in an outing for the first time this season, serving up longballs to Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.

"We were fighting all the way," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "Nathan was okay tonight, but when you leave a ball over the plate, you get hurt. Rollins and Howard will make you pay."

The setback dropped the 22-year-old to 1-6 with a 4.33 earned run average in nine starts. He faced the Mets for the first time in his career on June 30 and lost, touched for five runs over 5 1/3 frames of a 5-0 decision. A home run also hurt Eovaldi in that game as New York broke the contest open in the sixth inning on a three-run homer by Ike Davis.

Niese had the opposite result of Eovaldi in his final start before the break, hammered for seven runs over seven innings of a loss to the Chicago Cubs on July 8. However, the lefty hurled another seven innings at Washington on Tuesday and yielded just a run on three hits without a walk while striking out eight. Niese did not factor into a 5-4 loss, leaving him 7-4 with a 3.58 ERA in 18 career starts.

The 25-year-old has faced the Dodgers twice before, going 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA.

The Mets took three of four over the hosting Dodgers from June 28-July 1, but have dropped the first two contests of this set. That puts them in danger of getting swept by Los Angeles for the first time since May 18-20, 2009 on the road and for the first time in New York since Aug. 16-18, 2002.

New York pulled within a run in Saturday's meeting thanks to a two-run eighth inning that featured RBI from a pair of pinch-hitters in Daniel Murphy and Kirk Nieuwenhuis, but Juan Uribe provided some breathing room for the Dodgers in an 8-5 win with a two-run homer in the ninth.

Uribe had two hits, three runs scored and four RBI for the Dodgers, who have won three straight. Chris Capuano allowed eight hits and three runs with nine strikeouts over seven solid innings for the win.

"We really jumped on them early and really grinded out some nice at-bats," said Capuano. "It made for some long innings which can be tough sometimes when you're in the dugout for a long time. But I just tried to keep my energy up."

Ronny Cedeno homered for the Mets, who have lost eight of their past nine.

"This time of year they all become the most important game each and every day," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "We've struggled. We came back today and made it a game. We gotta keep fighting. The clubhouse is filled with guys that understand that and know ... it's no fun going through what we're going through."

On a day that the Mets placed Johan Santana on the disabled list because of a sprained right ankle, Miguel Batista was tagged in defeat for five hits and four runs over three full frames.






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