Dodgers tie playoff scoreless innings mark in Game 1 rout of Mets - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — Perfection was in the air for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. Perfection on the scoreboard, perfection for a hometown player living out a dream and near-perfection for just about everyone throwing a baseball right now for L.A.

In a Game 1 rout replete with history-making zeroes, Jack Flaherty and two relievers combined to shut out the New York Mets 9-0 as the Dodgers seized a series-opening win in the NLCS.

«It was just a pitching clinic,» Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. «I thought [Flaherty] did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix. Used his fastball when he needed to. Just minimized damage.»

With the whitewash, the Dodgers have extended a scoreless innings streak — one that began in Game 3 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres — to 33 innings, matching the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the longest in postseason history.

The Dodgers also became just the third team to record three straight shutouts in the postseason, joining those Orioles and the 1905 New York Giants.

Flaherty served up the first seven of those goose eggs in Game 1, holding the Mets to two hits over seven innings and striking out six. It was the longest outing by a Dodgers starter in the postseason since Max Scherzer on Oct. 11, 2021. Los Angeles, an October fixture, had 20 games in between those two gems.

With the Dodgers rotation riddled by injuries, this was the kind of outing the team hoped for and badly needed from Flaherty when it acquired him at the trade deadline from the Detroit Tigers.

«He's got an aura about him,» Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. «He's super competitive, super focused. I see all his preparation he does for the couple days before the start. It's intense.»

The night was, well,