Landon Knack

Mets third baseman Mark Vientos made Roberts pay for staying with long reliever Landon Knack.

Mets' third baseman Mark Vientos made Roberts pay for staying with long reliever Landon Knack.

Mark Vientos hits a second-inning grand slam off Landon Knack, sending the New York Mets to a 7-3 win over the Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS.

If this had been another five-game series, the Dodgers probably would have tried a true bullpen day today, like they did in Game 4 against the Padres. As is, they didn't feel comfortable asking that much of the pen with the potential for seven games in nine days. That made Knack the bulk guy, and he just didn't have it in this one. Things might have worked out better if not for the decision to intentionally walk Francisco Lindor ahead of a Mark Vientos grand slam, but that's hardly assured. Knack's 55 pitches produced just three missed swings and five hard-hit balls.

The slam came in a 2-0 game after the Mets walked Francisco Lindor with first base open and two outs in the second. To be fair, Lindor did homer in the first. That was off opener Ryan Brasier, though, and the Dodgers had Landon Knack in the game at that point. Lindor may have a postseason advantage over Vientos with all of his experience, but the choice was between two guys with very similar regular-season numbers, and all margin for error was gone with the bases loaded, whereas there would have been some with the base open working to Lindor. After the homer, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pretty much gave up on winning this one, saving all of his best relievers for Wednesday's Game 3. Walker Buehler and Luis Severino are the scheduled starters then.