Kyle Tucker homers again as Dodgers secure series

NEW YORK — The ball jumped off Kyle Tucker’s bat for a high-flying home run into the right-field stands at Citi Field.

Tucker had been affected person, watching the first 4 pitches of the at-bat against Nolan McLean, a pair of balls, and a pair of strikes low and in. Then, when McLean missed with a center-cut fastball, Tucker bought all of it.

With his first swing in a recreation the Dodgers would win 4-3 on Saturday, Tucker gave his workforce the early lead. And for the first time as a Dodger, he homered in consecutive video games.

“I feel a lot better,” Tucker said after the sport, as fellow outfielder Teoscar Hernández shouted from the other facet of the clubhouse, acknowledging his homers. “Need more of that. Seeing the ball decently, putting better swings on it. Just need to compound that into more swings, more at-bats. See how [Sunday] goes and just keep with it.”

It’s too early to say if this is the Tucker breakout the Dodgers have been ready for. Nearly two-thirds of the best way through the season, he has yet to hit like he has for most of his profession.

“It’s coming,” supervisor Dave Roberts said Friday. “It hasn’t been as consistent or as fast as we’d like, but he’s still going through it. He’s still working hard.”

Tucker’s home run kicked off a three-run third inning for the Dodgers (67-38). They scored the other two with the help of a throwing error and handed ball from the Mets (43-62), while the Dodgers saved the stress on with a barrage of balls in play.

That was enough to all but resolve the sport, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. The right-hander held the Mets to just one run, coming off a single from Bo Bichette, over six innings.

Though Yamamoto gave up 5 hits (all singles) and issued three walks, he navigated the visitors with poise.

Tucker got here close to hitting a second homer, sending a fastball to left discipline in the fourth inning. But Mets left fielder A.J. Ewing caught the ball just before the wall. The Dodgers’ ultimate run instead got here off a single from Andy Pages in the fifth.

The Mets struck back in the eighth. Edgardo Henriquez hit a batter and walked another to open the inning. And both runners scored when nearer Tanner Scott changed Henriquez with two outs and gave up a double to Mets pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor. But Scott bought out of the inning without giving up the lead, and Brock Stewart recorded the save, his first of the 12 months.

Tucker’s home run was his ninth of the season. Last 12 months with the Cubs, he racked up that many by May 3.

“There’s some times where I like to see the ball coming in, put a swing on it, and I can visualize the ball coming off the bat and doing what I want with it, but it doesn’t really go that way,” Tucker said. “Which is a little frustrating. … That happens at times, but it’s seemed to happen a lot more this year. I’ve just got to battle for the next pitch and just continue on with the at-bat.”

Tucker, who has historically hung his hat on his strike-zone control, ended a 12-game streak without a stroll Friday.

“It was a little weird, because I hadn’t walked in a while,” Tucker said. “So I honestly didn’t know what to do for a sec.

“But I mean, anything to get on base, whether it’s a single, homer, walk, whatever it is, just try to keep going with it.”

He drew another stroll Saturday in the sixth.

“I’ve, at times, thought I found something, or trying to turn the page, and it just kind of goes away and it’s back to square one,” Tucker said. “That’s where you’ve just kind of got to keep working, keep grinding and keep moving forward.”

Against the Mets, Tucker has regarded more just like the participant the Dodgers anticipated when they signed him to a four-year, $240-million contract, with the ability and plate self-discipline that earned him 4 straight All-Star nods before this 12 months.

If he can recapture that identification down the stretch and into the postseason, his slow start will fade in the recollections of Dodgers followers.

“Everyone in here is supportive, from the players to the coaching staff, everyone,” Tucker said. “At the same point, you’ve got to be confident in yourself. So I just try to go up there every single at-bat and not think about previous ones. Just go up there and try to compete.”