LOS ANGELES – James Loney homered in the 13th inning, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 3-2 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
Oliver Perez (0-4), starting his second inning of relief, retired Matt Kemp on a broken-bat flyball before Loney drove a 1-0 pitch into the pavilion seats in right-center.
Loney's homer was timely because the Dodgers had no true relievers left in the Los Angeles bullpen. Much-maligned reliever George Sherrill (1-1), the ninth Dodgers pitcher, worked a perfect inning.
Kenley Jansen, a hard-throwing 22 year old who began his pro career as a catcher and was converted to a pitcher during his 2009 season with Class-A Inland Empire, worked a perfect seventh inning for the Dodgers in his major league debut. The 6-foot-5, 257-pound right-hander struck out his first batter, Angel Pagan, on three pitches and then fanned All-Star David Wright.
Dodgers rookie Carlos Monasterios scattered six hits and struck out three in his seventh start this season and first since June 18. The right-hander pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, fanning Rod Barajas and pitcher Mike Pelfrey.
Barajas trimmed the Dodgers' lead to 2-1 in the sixth with an RBI single off James McDonald, just his fourth RBI in a span of 101 at-bats. But he strained his right oblique muscle running to second when the next batter, pinch-hitter Jeff Franoeur, hit a squibber toward the mound. McDonald bobbled it before flipping the ball to catcher Brad Ausmus — thinking that Jason Bay was coming down the line from third.
Henry Blanco replaced Barajas on the basepaths, and Jose Reyes tied the score with what would turn out to be the Mets' final hit of the game an RBI single off newly acquired Jack Taschner. The bases remained loaded for Luis Castillo, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Mets are batting a major league-worst .209 in bases-loaded situations, despite Bay's three-run double in Friday night's 6-1 win.
Pelfrey allowed two runs and six hits through five innings in his Dodger Stadium debut. He threw 45 pitches over the first five three innings — six fewer than he made in the first inning of his previous start, when he lasted only 1 1-3 innings at Arizona.
For the eighth time in his last nine outings, Pelfrey gave up a run in the first. Rafael Furcal led off with a single, advanced all the way to third on Pelfrey's errant pickoff throw and scored on Xavier Paul's sacrifice fly. The Mets 6-foot-7 right-hander had allowed only one first-inning run through his first 11 starts this season.
Ausmus, who was put on the disabled list during the first week of the season because of a back injury and didn't come off until Tuesday, made his second start behind the plate and got an RBI single in the fourth to increase the margin to 2-0.
The Mets have not won consecutive road games against NL teams all season. They did, however, win the first seven games of an interleague road trip last month, including sweeps against Baltimore and Cleveland, and a victory in the opener of a series at Yankee Stadium.
NOTES: The Mets are 175-178 since Jerry Manuel replaced Willie Randolph as manager. Randolph was 199-154 through his first 353 games. ... Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton escaped a jam in the ninth by striking out Wright with runners at second and third. Wright is 1 for 7 with five strikeouts against him. ... Perez escaped a bases-loaded jam in the 12th by retiring pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll on a fielder's choice grounder. ... The Mets have won only four of their last 16 games, and all four victories were in games started by Johan Santana. But since the start of the season, the Mets actually have a better record in Pelfrey's starts 13-7 than Santana's (10-10). ... Andre Ethier, who entered the game in a 4-for-29 rut with two homers and three RBIs since the break, did not start for only the second time since coming off the DL on May 31. He pinch-hit in the 10th and struck out.
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