NEW YORK — Taijuan Walker looked phenomenal against one of baseball's most dangerous lineups as he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. With each out, the Citi Field crowd roared. He was outdueling counterpart Walker Buehler, who could win NL Cy Young this season. He flirted with history.
Poof.
It all ended in a flash.
With one out in the seventh inning, Walker lost the no-hitter and the shutout as Will Smith — who homered in the 10th inning to propel the Dodgers to victory on Friday — sent a 444-foot shot into the second deck in left-center field to end the no-hitter and shutout. Suddenly, the Mets found themselves in another tie game with one of baseball’s powerhouses.
Then, they suffered another gut-wrenching loss.
The Mets (59-57) lost to the Dodgers, 2-1, after Cody Bellinger doubled home a run off right-hander Yennsy Diaz with one out in the top of the 10th inning. The Mets on Sunday will face Max Scherzer, their former division foe, as they looked to avoid the sweep.
Extra innings (again)
You could view the series — at least to this point — in two ways.
1. The Mets have shown heart as they've competed with one of the sport's best teams. They've fought until the end and they don't appear too overmatched.
2. They lost both games, so the points made in No. 1 are meaningless. They're still off to a rough start in this brutal stretch against the Dodgers and Giants.
The Mets have suffered two heartbreaking losses. They were right there in both games. A hit here or there, and they would've won.
In the series opener, Smith homered in the 10th to push the Dodgers across the finish line.
In the series' second game, Bellinger grounded a double past a diving Pete Alonso at first base to score the go-ahead run. And in the bottom half, two Mets struck out and another grounded out as they failed to tie the game.
The Mets have not been blown out. They can clearly hang with the Dodgers.
But at what point do results matter more than that?
Taijuan Walker shines on the mound
Walker on Saturday put together the longest no-hit bid by a Met since Steven Matz on Aug. 14, 2016.
Five years to the day.
Walker carried a no-hitter for 6 1/3 innings, which marked the longest he's even taken a no-no in his career. It's even more impressive considering he has struggled since the All-Star break.
The right-hander allowed only two hits — the Smith home run and a Corey Seager double right after it — over 6 2/3 frames. He struck out eight Dodgers and threw 93 pitches.
Jacob deGrom is still on the injured list. Carlos Carrasco is not yet fully stretched out. Tylor Megill is a rookie. Rich Hill isn't known for going deep into games at this point of his career.
Given all of that, the Mets needed a start like this from Walker.
As he exited the game in the seventh, the crowd gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.
Aaron Loup escapes in big spot
Smith's solo home run off Walker tied the game because Buehler shoved against the Mets. Over seven innings, he only served up a solo shot to Michael Conforto with two outs in the fourth.
As Walker dominated, the Mets couldn't score insurance runs for him. Don't be too hard on them, though. Buehler has done this to almost everyone. His 2.09 ERA leads all of baseball among qualified starting pitchers (Jacob deGrom doesn't have the innings to qualify).
Lefty Aaron Loup entered for Walker in the seventh and inherited runners on the corners with two outs. The Dodgers had a great opportunity to take the lead, but Loup struck out the left-handed hitting Cody Bellinger to escape the jam.
Loup, now viewed as one of baseball's most underrated offseason signings, has a 1.18 ERA for the Mets this season. He's been terrific, and proved himself once again in a high-leverage spot.
