{"id":959695,"date":"2026-07-26T04:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T04:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/959695\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T04:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T04:20:18","slug":"kyle-tucker-homers-again-as-dodgers-secure-series-win-over-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/959695\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Tucker homers again as Dodgers secure series win over Mets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The ball jumped off Kyle Tucker<\/a>\u2019s bat for a high-flying home run into the right-field stands at Citi Field.<\/p>\n

Tucker had been patient, watching the first four pitches of the at-bat against Nolan McLean<\/a>, a pair of balls, and a pair of strikes low and in. Then, when McLean missed with a center-cut fastball, Tucker got all of it.<\/p>\n

With his first swing in a game the Dodgers would win 4-3<\/a> on Saturday, Tucker gave his team the early lead. And for the first time as a Dodger, he homered in consecutive games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a lot better,\u201d Tucker said after the game, as fellow outfielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez shouted from the other side of the clubhouse, acknowledging his homers. \u201cNeed 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too early to say if this is the Tucker breakout the Dodgers have been waiting for. Nearly two-thirds of the way through the season, he has yet to hit like he has for most of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s coming,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said Friday. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been as consistent or as fast as we\u2019d like, but he\u2019s still going through it. He\u2019s still working hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s 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 passed ball from the Mets (43-62), while the Dodgers kept the pressure on with a barrage of balls in play.<\/p>\n

That was enough to all but decide the game, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> on the mound. The right-hander held the Mets to just one run, coming off a single from Bo Bichette, over six innings.<\/p>\n

Though Yamamoto gave up five hits (all singles) and issued three walks, he navigated the traffic with poise.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers during the second inning of a 4-3 win over the Mets on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Frank Franklin II \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Tucker came close to hitting a second homer, sending a fastball to left field in the fourth inning. But Mets left fielder A.J. Ewing caught the ball just before the wall. The Dodgers\u2019 final run instead came off a single from Andy Pages<\/a> in the fifth.<\/p>\n

The Mets struck back in the eighth. Edgardo Henriquez<\/a> hit a batter and walked another to open the inning. And both runners scored when closer Tanner Scott<\/a> replaced Henriquez with two outs and gave up a double to Mets pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor<\/a>. But Scott got out of the inning without giving up the lead, and Brock Stewart<\/a> recorded the save, his first of the year.<\/p>\n

Tucker\u2019s home run was his ninth of the season. Last year with the Cubs, he racked up that many by May 3.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 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\u2019t really go that way,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cWhich is a little frustrating. … That happens at times, but it\u2019s seemed to happen a lot more this year. I\u2019ve just got to battle for the next pitch and just continue on with the at-bat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tucker, who has traditionally hung his hat on his strike-zone control, ended a 12-game streak without a walk Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little weird, because I hadn\u2019t walked in a while,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cSo I honestly didn\u2019t know what to do for a sec.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I mean, anything to get on base, whether it\u2019s a single, homer, walk, whatever it is, just try to keep going with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He drew another walk Saturday in the sixth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve, at times, thought I found something, or trying to turn the page, and it just kind of goes away and it\u2019s back to square one,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cThat\u2019s where you\u2019ve just kind of got to keep working, keep grinding and keep moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against the Mets, Tucker has looked more like the player the Dodgers expected when they signed him to a four-year, $240-million contract, with the power and plate discipline that earned him four straight All-Star nods before this year.<\/p>\n

If he can recapture that identity down the stretch and into the postseason, his slow start will fade in the memories of Dodgers fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in here is supportive, from the players to the coaching staff, everyone,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cAt the same point, you\u2019ve 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The ball jumped off Kyle Tucker\u2019s bat for a high-flying home run into the right-field stands at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":959696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[38116,20698,1582,276,385939,2442,116359,6803,1910,385938,3688,5605,2961,13940,224,5337,3685,85371,21578,54078],"class_list":["post-959695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-at-bat","tag-ball","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-center-cut-fastball","tag-dodgers","tag-early-lead","tag-first-time","tag-game","tag-high-flying-home-run","tag-inning","tag-kyle-tucker","tag-la","tag-last-year","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-mets","tag-nolan-mclean","tag-pair","tag-single"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116984364108108717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}