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Late rally lifts Dodgers past Mets

May 31, 2008 - 5:12 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- The first game of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre's return to New York did not go as he had hoped. The second contest was much more enjoyable.

Matt Kemp sparked a five-run outburst in the eighth inning as the Dodgers rallied for a 9-5 victory Friday over the New York Mets.

Former Met Jeff Kent's RBI single in the inning snapped a tie and Russell Martin matched a career high with four hits and also drove in three runs for Los Angeles, which scored nine runs for the first time since May 3 at Colorado in halting a four-game losing streak.

With the Dodgers trailing, 5-4, Juan Pierre led off the pivotal frame with an infield single. Beleaguered reliever Aaron Heilman (0-2) replaced Pedro Feliciano and was greeted by Kemp's game-tying RBI double.

Kent and Martin then sandwiched run-scoring singles around a base hit by James Loney, who scored on a wild pitch by Scott Schoeneweis to give Los Angeles an 8-5 bulge. Rookie Blake DeWitt capped the rally with a two-out RBI single.

"We had good at-bats," Torre said. "Two-strike base hits were hugely important, and that's what we hadn't been doing. We've gotten behind in counts and we've gone quietly. I thought that inning was a good inning, and hopefully, we can do something on top of that."

"Everybody did their part in that inning," Martin added. "Just make guys go first to third, good situational hitting (with) guys on third base and less than two outs. We just got to understand that's what we're capable of doing and do it more often. Hopefully, this win gets us back to where we need to be."

Before sparking the comeback, Kemp had been in a 3-for-23 slump and had struck out nine times. He had gone 0-for-3 Friday before lining Heilman's 0-1 pitch into center field.

"The kid has been fighting it," Torre said. "He's been really fighting it. That was a huge hit for us. ... He tied the game and put himself in scoring position. So that was a big hit for him, and he's been frustrated. He was going to get the guy over and he got the base hit to boot."

Heilman, who has surrendered runs in four of his last six outings, was tagged for four runs and four hits without recording an out. The righthander contributed to a poor showing by New York's bullpen, which entered having allowed just two runs in its prior 20 1/3 innings.

"I thought I threw the ball pretty well," Heilman said. "But I've got to do a better job out there, keep the ball down and get them to hit it at people."

The eighth-inning eruption made a winner of Chan Ho Park (2-1), who yielded one run and two hits in 3 1/3 innings of relief after highly touted prospect Clayton Kershaw lasted just 3 2/3 frames.

Park allowed the Mets to take a one-run lead on Ramon Castro's broken-bat RBI grounder in the seventh. But the Korean righthander, who appeared in one game for New York last year, proceeded to escape his second bases-loaded jam of the night to set the stage for Los Angeles' outburst.

The Dodgers avoided their second five-game losing streak under Torre, who had spent the previous 12 seasons managing the New York Yankees. The Brooklyn native saw Los Angeles fall behind by six runs before dropping an 8-4 decision in the series opener on Thursday but watched his team win for just the second time in 24 games when trailing after seven in this one.

"We've been struggling the past four or five games," DeWitt said. "For us to stay out there and keep battling like that was big."

Luis Castillo hit a two-run homer in the first inning but left the game in the seventh with a left hip flexor strain. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran drove in the other runs for the Mets.

"It's obviously one that we let slip away," New York third baseman David Wright said. "To be the team that we want to be, these are the ones that we have to have."

Before the collapse, the Mets failed to produce in key spots. They stranded 11 baserunners, were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left the bases loaded in both the fourth - when Wright grounded out - and the seventh - when Park struck out rookie Nick Evans.

Martin produced his third career four-hit night and second this season. He began his big night in Los Angeles' three-run first inning against John Maine, delivering an RBI double and scoring on Andre Ethier's base hit.

The Mets tied the game in the third, when Beltran lifted a sacrifice fly, but Martin restored the Dodgers' lead by sending Maine's 3-1 pitch over the left field wall for his fourth home run of the season and first since April 30.

New York appeared on the verge of breaking open the game after it began the fourth with three straight base hits but only managed an RBI groundout by Reyes.