LOS ANGELES — Thanks for the memories.
OMG, Grimace and the Playoff Pumpkin all became past tense Sunday night when a Mets team that defied odds for much of the season couldn’t find yet another miracle.
Sean Manaea got battered early and there wasn’t much recourse from the Mets in a 10-5 loss to the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS. The Dodgers extended their National League record with a 25th pennant and will host the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
It’s 38 seasons and counting without a World Series title for the Mets, who defied most projections by winning 89 games to nudge into the playoffs with a wild-card berth before topping the Brewers and Phillies in the wild-card series and NLDS, respectively.
This seasoned Dodgers team posed too much of a challenge, even with a battered starting rotation. The Dodgers instead relied on their bullpen and let stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts carry the offense, along with lesser known commodities Max Muncy and Tommy Edman.
The Mets needed length from Manaea, but got nothing close to it. The left-hander was yanked after recording only six outs and was charged for five earned runs on six hits and two walks over a 64-pitch struggle.
Pete Alonso, in potentially his final game in a Mets uniform — he is headed to free agency after the World Series — finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Mets went only 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.
Alonso’s infield single in the first brought in the game’s first run. Francisco Lindor walked leading off and reached second on Michael Kopech’s wild pitch before Alonso, with one out and Lindor on third, hit a slow bouncer that Chris Taylor threw away.
Manaea was in trouble from the start, facing seven batters in the first inning as the Dodgers built a 2-1 lead. Ohtani singled leading off and Teoscar Hernandez hit a shot to center he thought was a two-run homer, but it hit the fence and became a long single (because of his failure to run). Hernandez’s miscue became a moot point with Edman’s two-run double.
The Dodgers took control in the third inning with four runs, including two homers, to bury the Mets in a 6-1 hole. Edman smashed a two-run homer before Phil Maton entered and surrendered a two-run bomb to Will Smith.
Mark Vientos’ fifth homer this postseason, a two-run blast in the fourth, pulled the Mets within 6-3. Francisco Alvarez singled leading off the inning before Vientos cleared the center field fence against Ryan Brasier.
Edwin Diaz entered in the fourth with the Mets behind 6-3 and pitched two scoreless innings. It was a second straight scoreless performance of two innings for Diaz, who teamed with Ryne Stanek to give the Mets a heroic bullpen effort in their Game 5 victory at Citi Field.
Alonso walked in the sixth to load the bases and bring Jesse Winker to the plate as the potential go-ahead run with two outs. Winker was retired on a soft fly ball to left by Evan Phillips.
Ohtani delivered an RBI single off diving Tyrone Taylor’s glove in center field in the sixth to widen the Dodgers’ lead to 7-3.
The Mets got the run back in the seventh. Taylor and Jeff McNeil each singled before Alvarez brought in the run with a sacrifice fly.
Kodai Senga entered for the seventh and worked a scoreless inning. The right-hander returned for the eighth and surrendered an RBI double to Betts before Hernandez’s sacrifice fly drove in the Dodgers’ ninth run. Enrique Hernandez stroked an RBI single that buried the Mets in a 10-4 hole.
McNeil’s RBI single in the ninth produced the Mets’ final run of the season.