Mets lose 7th in a row despite gem from Nolan McLean; Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto dominates
Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto runs to the dugout after the third out against the Mets in the first inning on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. Credit: Getty Images/Ronald Martinez
LOS ANGELES — The baseballs spun and swerved: Splitters that disappeared from the strike zone at the last moment, sweepers broke nearly 20 inches, and curveballs that moved in ways that haven’t been since baseball began tracking spin rate.
It was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, trying to continue the Dodgers’ string of dominance, and Nolan McLean, once again trying to play stopper for a Mets team that refuses to hit for him (and recently, for anyone else on the mound).
It didn’t matter.
The Dodgers outlasted McLean, cobbling together a run against Brooks Raley in the eighth inning as they beat the Mets, 2-1, at Dodger Stadium for the Mets’ seventh straight loss on Tuesday night.
“The urgency level is really high,” Francisco Lindor said. McLean “did a really good job. He kept us in the game. He gave us quick innings, chances for us to score, gave us the momentum and we didn’t capitalize on it. It’s one of those [where] you wish you could have gotten it done for him.”
Raley walked pinch hitter Miguel Rojas to lead off the eighth; Rojas moved to second on a sacrifice bunt to bring up Shohei Ohtani, who was walked intentionally. That, though, meant Raley would have to face lefty Kyle Tucker, who blooped a single over Bo Bichette’s head with the go-ahead run.
Alex Vesia needed only 10 pitches to strike out the side of Jorge Polanco, Bichette and Francsico Alvarez in the ninth, and only two were in the strike zone. Combined, they swung through seven pitches out of the zone. The Mets have scored one run in the last 29 innings.
“Ultra aggressive and we just went out of the strike zone,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We chased. It’s hard to score in situations like that.”
McLean was nothing less than stellar: He allowed one run and two hits with two walks and eight strikeouts over seven. Yamamoto, meanwhile, went 7 2/3 innings, allowing a run, four hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.
“Yamamoto was pretty nasty but Nolan was pretty nasty, too,” Mendoza said. “They went head to head. It was inning after inning, batter after batter, pitch after pitch. They really made it tough on hitters. It sucks losing that one, especially when you get that type of outing.”
The Mets’ sole run came in their first at-bat. Lindor, batting .176 coming in, teed off on Yamamoto’s third pitch, a grooved fastball that he rocketed 402 feet to right for his first homer of the year.
The Dodgers, though, got that run back in the bottom of the inning. Tucker walked with one out and Will Smith lined McLean’s inside sinker to left, just past the glove of a diving Carson Benge, putting runners at second and third. Freddie Freeman’s groundout brought the run home.
McLean looked nearly untouchable after that, retiring 13 straight (and striking out the side in the fourth) before walking Hyeseong Kim with two outs in the fifth.
Yamamoto retired 20 straight Mets before they put together a glimmer of a rally in the seventh. Bichette laced a two-out double to left and Francisco Alvarez walked to bring up Brett Baty. Baty, though, swung through a splitter that dropped out of the zone for strike three.
The Mets, though, got another shot in the eighth. This time, it was Benge with a two-out single. Lindor then poked a ball past a diving Freeman at first, putting runners at the corners for Luis Robert Jr. and ending Yamamoto’s day at 104 pitches.
Lindor stole second with Blake Treinen in to pitch, and Robert worked the count full before he took a sweeper that nicked the bottom of the zone for strike three.
McLean was pulled after 95 pitches. And that, it turns out, was all the advantage the Dodgers needed.
“We’re not going to just sit here and say, ‘we’ll get them, we’ll get them, we’ll get them,’ ” Lindor said. “We are trying to win. It’s just a matter of time. We’ve got to get it done.”
Notes & quotes: Jared Young experienced left knee discomfort Sunday and underwent imaging, though the Mets hadn’t received the results as of Tuesday afternoon. A stint on the injured list is possible, Mendoza said ... Reliever Joey Gerber was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right finger blister. Righty Austin Warren was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
