LOS ANGELES — Michael Conforto, the .169-hitting left fielder whose hold on a roster spot seemed to be slipping out of his hands, capped a bizarre three-run, eighth-inning rally with a two-out RBI single to lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon.
Mets starter David Peterson gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings and handed a 5-3 lead to setup man Reed Garrett, who had allowed only two earned runs in 26⅔ innings of 27 games this season for an 0.68 ERA.
But Garrett walked Mookie Betts to open the eighth, and Will Smith roped an RBI double into the left field corner to cut New York’s lead to 5-4. Teoscar Hernández flied out to deep center, advancing Smith to third, and the Mets brought their infield in for Andy Pages, who tapped a slow roller to third.
Smith broke for home and stopped in hopes of getting caught in a rundown long enough for Pages to advance to second. Mets third baseman Brett Baty bounced his throw to the plate, the ball caroming over the head of catcher Francisco Alvarez and into the glove of Garrett, who was backing up the play.
But Garrett was blocked by Alvarez and unable to apply a tag in time to catch Smith, who slid home for a 5-5 tie. Tommy Edman struck out, and pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman was walked intentionally, but Conforto slapped an RBI single to left to score Pages for a 6-5 lead.
It was Conforto’s first hit with a runner in scoring position since March 31 and his first all season w a runner in scoring position and two outs. He had been 2 for 35 with runners in scoring position for the season.
Dodgers closer Tanner Scott struck out two of four batters in a scoreless ninth for his 11th save, the Dodgers earning a split of the four-game series.
The Dodgers remained within striking distance thanks to the efforts of unheralded relievers Jake Dreyer, who threw two scoreless innings, and José Ureña, who threw 1⅔ scoreless innings with the help of Smith, his catcher, before being nicked for a run in the eighth.
Ureña, a hard-throwing right-hander who was signed on Tuesday to help fortify a bullpen ravaged by injuries, replaced Dreyer with a runner on first and one out in the sixth and gave up a single to Pete Alonso.
Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, but Ureña won a nine-pitch duel with Jeff McNeil, striking out the Mets second baseman with a 97 mph sinker, and Smith picked off Marte at third to complete a rare home-to-third, strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.
Ureña retired the side in order in the seventh to maintain a 4-3 deficit and retired the first two batters in the eighth before giving up a double to Marte, an intentional walk to Juan Soto and an RBI single to Alonso that pushed New York’s lead to 5-3.
Dodgers starter Landon Knack was knocked out in the fourth inning, the right-hander giving up a solo homer to Alonso in the second, solo homers to Brandon Nimmo and Marte in a three-run third and walking Nimmo and Marte with one out in the fourth.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts summoned the left-handed Dryer to face the left-handed-hitting Soto, who walked to load the bases. Up stepped Alonso, the right-handed-hitting cleanup man who slugged two homers in Wednesday night’s 6-1 win. The matchup did not seem to favor the Dodgers at all.
But Dreyer struck out Alonso with a 2-and-2 slider and got McNeil to fly to right to end the inning. Dreyer got into more trouble in the fifth when he gave up a one-out single to Baty and a two-out single to Luisangel Acuña.
Nimmo followed with a soft liner up the middle, but Betts, the Dodgers shortstop, made a running, lunging catch behind the second base bag to end the inning.
Peterson entered with a 4-2 record and 2.69 ERA in 11 starts, the left-hander yielding two earned runs or less in 10 of those games, but the Dodgers roughed him up for three runs in the third, a rally that began with No. 9 hitter Miguel Rojas’ one-out walk.
Shohei Ohtani grounded a single to center, Rojas advancing to third, and Betts drove an RBI double over the head of Tyrone Taylor in center field to cut New York’s lead to 4-1.
Smith’s RBI single to make it 4-2, and Betts scored on Teoscar Hernández’s fielder’s choice grounder to make it 4-3 before Pages flied out to end the inning.
More to come on this story.
