Mets' Noah Syndergaard ejected after throwing behind Chase Utley
NEW YORK - After the New York Mets missed, Chase Utley connected twice.
Utley hit a grand slam and a solo homer after Noah Syndergaard threw a 99 mph fastball behind his back, and the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep a season-high five times in routing New York 9-1 on Saturday night.
In a scene that seemed inevitable since October, Syndergaard was immediately ejected following the third-inning pitch — which certainly appeared to be his shot at retaliation against Utley for the late takeout slide that broke the right leg of then-Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada in last year’s playoffs.
Plate umpire Adam Hamari tossed Syndergaard, sending Mets manager Terry Collins into a rage, but no trouble ensued between the teams. A longtime New York nemesis, Utley raised one hand slightly in the direction of the Dodgers’ bench to keep teammates calm — and later responded by doing all sorts of damage with his bat.
“I think a loud, energizing environment gets the best out of you. I think it’s fun,” said Utley, who has 19 RBIs this season, nine in the first two games of this series. “It kind of gets the adrenaline going a little bit, makes you kind of dig down deeper.”
Asked if he thought Syndergaard delivered a purpose pitch, Utley said: “Possibly, but I understand it.”
Logan Verrett entered to pitch for the Mets and, with a vocal contingent of fans urging him to hit Utley with a pitch, eventually threw a called third strike past him. But then Utley homered on Verrett's first pitch of the sixth to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, his 37th career homer against the Mets.
For his slide, Utley was given a two-game suspension by Major League Baseball that was later dropped. While appealing the original penalty, he didn't play in Games 3 and 4 of last year's NL Division Series between the Mets and Dodgers at Citi Field.
He flied out as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning of the decisive Game 5 at Dodger Stadium, then played all four games without incident from May 9-12 when the teams split a series in Los Angeles.
Adrian Gonzalez homered and had four hits for the Dodgers, who spoiled the Mets’ 30th anniversary celebration of their 1986 World Series championship. Howie Kendrick and Corey Seager also connected, all after Syndergaard was gone.
Kenta Maeda (4-3) shook off an early line drive that hit him on the pitching hand and threw five shutout innings. The right-hander yielded two hits, both singles in the first, and stopped his three-game losing streak.
“Pretty impressive. You wouldn’t see too many other pitches staying in the game at that point,” Utley said.
The stoic Utley is playing at Citi Field this weekend for the first time since Tejada was injured. The Mets — and their fans — were incensed by the aggressive slide, which led to a change in baseball rules this season designed to protect infielders in what some call the Utley Rule.
But the Mets had not tried to retaliate until Saturday night; Utley played all four games without incident May 9-12 when the teams split a series in Los Angeles.
With one out and nobody on in the third inning of a scoreless game, Syndergaard’s first pitch to Utley sailed behind the second baseman by a considerable margin.
Noah Syndergaard ejected from Mets-Dodgers after throwing behind Chase Utley
Hamari immediately ejected Syndergaard, prompting Collins to come storming out of the dugout. Collins also was ejected after screaming at Hamari and pointing in his face during an animated argument. The manager was finally escorted back toward the New York dugout by another umpire.
“The ruling was that he intentionally threw at the batter,” crew chief Tom Hallion told a pool reporter. “We can either warn or eject. And with what happened in that situation, we felt the ejection was warranted.”
Hallion said no warnings were issued before the series.
“We take each game individually,” he said when asked if last year’s playoff series played a role in the ejection. “We have to make a snap decision. We can’t think about, OK, well this guy did this or he did that in Game 6 of whatever. We don’t have enough time to think that way. We make a decision on what happens in the game.”
Collins said he had never before seen a pitcher get ejected without a warning.
“My argument was, nobody got hit,” Collins said. “There was a time when, in this game, where you had a shot and nothing happened, the ball went to the backstop. So that was kind of my argument.”
After waiting near the mound with teammates for some time, Syndergaard walked calmly to the Mets dugout without showing any emotion as the crowd cheered him.
“It was just a pitch that got away from me. That’s all I got,” Syndergaard said. “I can understand why he did what he did. I still think a warning would have been better.”
Collins acknowledged he’s a little concerned Syndergaard might get suspended.
Logan Verrett (3-2) entered for the Mets and, with a vocal contingent in the sellout crowd of 42,227 urging him to hit Utley with a pitch, eventually threw a called third strike past him. But then Utley homered on Verrett’s first pitch of the sixth for a 1-0 lead.
Booed all night, Utley added his sixth career slam off Hansel Robles in the seventh, making it 6-0 with his 38th homer against the Mets.
Pinch-hitter Juan Lagares homered in the eighth for New York, long after the outcome was decided.
In the series opener Friday night, Utley was greeted with loud jeers and derisive chants. He had four RBIs in a 6-5 loss, including a three-run double that tied the score with two outs in the ninth.
“We came together as a group,” Utley said. “We battled, and it was a good win.”