The road team won in Los Angeles tonight, just as the road teams had won the first four games of the baseball playoffs Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The Mets’ Jacob de Grom, curly hair flying out from under his hat, outdueled the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in the New Yorkers’ 3-1 win. de Grom went seven innings, gave up five hits and no runs and struck out 13 Dodgers. Kershaw went 6 strong innings and struck out 11 Mets, but he faltered in the seventh and walked the bases loaded. He left and Pedro Baez allowed a single to David Wright which scored two runs. The Dodgers got one back in the eighth but that was all they could do.

This is the kind of game which really frustrates fans. The Dodgers outhit the Mets 7-5 but couldn’t get hits with men on base, leaving 7 of their 8 baserunners (they got a walk from de Grom too) on base. Sure, they struck out 13 times, but that can be overcome if you can get timely hits. They didn’t do it, and now they’re down one game to none in a best-of-five series.