NEW YORK — It had been more than two weeks since Juan Soto, the only man in baseball with a richer contract than Shohei Ohtani, had recorded an extra-base hit for the New York Mets.
In the bottom of the fourth inning Saturday night at Citi Field, however, Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin provided him the perfect opportunity to get back on track.
After a solid opening three innings for Gonsolin, who was making an all-important start for the Dodgers a night after their 13-inning marathon victory in the series opener, the right-hander had made a mess for himself in the fourth.
With one out, he issued back-to-back four-pitch walks to load the bases. The Dodgers’ early one-run lead then disappeared when Starling Marte reached on a half-swing infield single.
That brought up Soto, who had underperformed through much of his first two months in Queens after signing a $765 million mega-contract with the Mets. Gonsolin got ahead 1-and-2 in the count, before narrowly missing with a slider. He tried to come back with his trademark splitter. But Soto was all over it, crushing a two-run double that proved to be the decisive blow in New York’s 5-2 victory over the Dodgers.
In what likely will be a preview of what’s to come for the Dodgers (32-20) over a grueling portion of their schedule in the next month, the team’s fate Saturday was almost entirely reliant upon the performance of their starter.
On Friday night, their already overworked bullpen had been gassed again by their extra-inning gauntlet. And though they won that game, and freshened up their pitching staff by calling up Bobby Miller on Saturday for some extra length, manager Dave Roberts had his hands tied as Gonsolin started to lose command.
Over his first three innings against the Mets (31-21), Gonsolin had been fine, giving up one run in a two-out rally in the second by skirting more danger in the third by dialing up an inning-ending double-play with runners on the corners.
The fourth was a different story.
Luis Torrens led with a single. Tyrone Taylor clobbered a fly ball that seemed like a no-doubter off the bat before dying in a stiff breeze at the left-field warning track. Then, Gonoslin became erratic, throwing eight consecutive balls to Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor to load the bases for the heart of the Mets order.
Maybe on a night the Dodgers’ bullpen was fresh, Roberts could have considered summoning a lefty to face Soto. But after using seven of his eight relievers the previous night, he had no choice but to leave Gonsolin in as the four-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger came to the plate.
Five pitches later, Soto changed the game — sending Citi Field into euphoria with his go-ahead double that banged high off the wall in right center, the inning only ending when Marte was thrown out at home trying to score from first as the trail runner.
Gonsolin did return and completed the fifth, saving at least one inning that otherwise would have fallen upon the Dodgers’ bullpen.
But after he exited, Mets starter David Peterson kept going, using sharp command, seven strikeouts and three double plays to get through 7 ⅔ innings of two-run ball.
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