LOS ANGELES — That’s a kick in the crotch.
If it wasn’t enough the Mets had to endure LaTroy Hawkins getting hit in the genitals with a one-hopper in Wednesday night’s ninth inning and surrendering the game-tying homer moments later, there was Adrian Gonzalez’s slicing RBI double in the 12th.
Gonzalez’s double off Pedro Feliciano gave the Dodgers a 5-4 victory and three-game sweep of the Mets before 44,091 at Chavez Ravine.
Yasiel Puig ignited the winning rally with a hustling, one-out double. Puig hit a grounder through the middle that deflected off Omar Quintanilla’s glove, and the Cuban star didn’t stop running until he had reached second. Gonzalez then won it, with a shot past third base. The victory made the Dodgers 23-3 since the All-Star break and 40-8 dating to June 22.
#NoBueno DIRECT HIT Did not get any glove on the ball!!! long bus ride to SD #ICE #Mets #LGM Not a good feeling
— LaTroy Hawkins (@LaTroyHawkins32) August 15, 2013
Hawkins had been 3-for-3 in save opportunities since Bobby Parnell was placed on the disabled list last week, but couldn’t convert this one.
Andre Ethier smashed a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the ninth to tie the game only moments after Jerry Hairston Jr. delivered a different kind of blow. Hairston hit a one-hopper that nailed Hawkins in the genitals and kept him hunched over in visible discomfort after retrieving the ball and throwing to first base for the out. Manager Terry Collins visited the mound to check on the right-hander, who stayed in the game.
”It was a direct hit — no cup,” said Hawkins, who remained in agony after the game. “When I lifted my leg, I could feel my [nuts] in my throat, but I thought I could get through it. I feel like I got kicked by a mule, and it hurts.”
Ethier smashed a 2-1 pitch over the fence in left-center to make it 4-4. The rally started with Mark Ellis’ leadoff single in the inning.
A night after Matt Harvey was pounded for four runs in the fifth and sixth innings and took the loss, Dillon Gee allowed two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk over six innings. Gee’s ERA since May 30 is 2.45. Over that same stretch, Harvey has posted a 2.57 ERA.
Gee tripled in the fourth inning and cut his left arm diving into third base, but denied it had any affect later in the game, when he surrendered two runs.
Collins was asked if he’s happy to be leaving town.
”You’re never happy when you lose three straight and you had a chance to win,” Collins said.
The Mets’ four-city road trip continues Thursday night in San Diego, where Zack Wheeler will face Tyson Ross. Wheeler is coming off a victory last Saturday at Arizona in which he allowed one earned run over 6 1/3 innings.
The Dodgers finally got to Gee in the sixth, scoring twice to pull within 4-2. Hairston stroked an RBI single for the second run, after Ellis beat out Daniel Murphy’s relay to first base on a potential inning-ending double play grounder.
Gee pitched three perfect innings before Carl Crawford singled leading off the fourth and was then picked off first base. Later in the inning, the Dodgers received successive singles from Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez and Skip Schumaker to load the bases before Ellis was retired to end the inning.
Marlon Byrd’s 100th career homer, a three-run blast in the third — he somehow resisted the urge to run the bases backward for No. 100 as Jimmy Piersall did for the Mets in 1963 — had extended his team’s lead to 4-0.
Murphy and Josh Satin each singled with one out before Byrd got the green light on 3-0 and cleared the fence in left-center for his 18th homer of the season.
Andrew Brown’s RBI double in the second accounted for the Mets’ first run. It came after Byrd singled leading off the inning and was thrown out trying to reach third on Justin Turner’s single. After Ike Davis grounded into a fielder’s choice and stole second, Brown’s double scored the run.
Chris Capuano, who pitched for the Mets in 2011, lasted just five innings and allowed four earned runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts and two walks.