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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is looking for the right combination of hitters to push across a few more runs in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, starting four lefties including second baseman Jeff McNeil and designated hitter Jesse Winker.
For McNeil, 32, it is his first postseason start this month.
“Trying to give a different look to our lineup, an extra lefty there today,” Mendoza said Friday afternoon.
McNeil hit .238 during the regular season, playing in 129 games. He’ll replace Jose Iglesias in the lineup. Iglesias has had exactly one hit in every game of the series, but Mendoza wants to give Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty a different look after the righty shut his team out over seven innings in Game 1 on Sunday. He also moved third baseman Mark Vientos down a spot in the order, from second to third.
“Because they’ve only got one lefty out of the pen, I don’t want to give them an easy lane to shoot a lefty whenever they need to,” Mendoza said of the move. “And then with some of the lefties that are in the lineup, just kind of protect some of the righties as well. So trying to space those guys as much as possible and not give them an easy line.”
During the regular season, Flaherty was actually tougher against lefties than righties but he stymied both sides of the plate in the first game of the series, giving up just two hits and two walks. The Mets are hoping facing him a second time in five days will make the difference.
“This is a game of adjustments,” Mendoza said. “We saw him recently, but he also saw [our] hitters. So he’s got a good feel for what we’re trying to do. And we’re going to have to make some adjustments and we will make some adjustments.”
The Mets, down 3-1 in the series, also simply hope to execute at the plate better with men on base, no matter who’s on the mound. In their Game 4 loss on Thursday, they managed 10 hits and three walks but only scored two runs.
“We have to learn from that,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said after the 10-2 loss.
Meanwhile, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is back in the starting lineup after sitting Game 4 out. He has been nursing a sore ankle.