Gonzalez, Puig lead Dodgers to 9-4 win over Mets
NEW YORK - Adrian Gonzalez homered again in his second consecutive three-hit game and Yasiel Puig reached base five times to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over the skidding New York Mets 9-4 Tuesday night.
Josh Beckett (2-1) helped himself with an RBI single in his second straight victory after 14 winless starts.
But the fiery right-hander left frustrated after failing to get an out in the sixth inning.
Carl Crawford scored three times and stole two bases. Gonzalez connected for a two-run shot in a four-run fifth, when Los Angeles chased Rafael Montero (0-2) from his second major league start.
Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe limped off with an injury after his ninth-inning double. Puig, who had three hits and scored twice to extend his recent tear at the plate, delivered an RBI single during a three-run ninth.
Curtis Granderson and Lucas Duda homered for the Mets, who dropped to 5-13 in May with their fifth defeat in six games. Twice they loaded the bases with one out and came up empty in the opener of a nine-game homestand.
New York (20-24) fell a season-worst four games under .500 and lost for the 10th time in 11 meetings with the Dodgers dating to July 1, 2012.
The teams combined to use 12 pitchers in a game that took 4 hours, 8 minutes - a minute short of tying the Mets record for a nine-inning game.
Puig drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and Gonzalez hit his 11th homer into the Dodgers' bullpen in right-center. The streaking slugger has eight hits in his past 12 at-bats, including a home run in Sunday's loss at Arizona.
Matt Kemp doubled and Crawford's RBI single chased Montero (0-2), who arrived in the majors with a reputation for fine control. One of the team's top pitching prospects, the 23-year-old right-hander has walked six and served up three home runs in 10 1-3 big league innings.
Uribe fisted a run-scoring single over a drawn-in infield against Jeurys Familia to cap the outburst.
Puig, the co-NL player of the week, doubled off the top of the right-field wall in the sixth and scored on Hanley Ramirez's single to make it 6-1.
Earlier in the game, the exuberant right fielder appeared to lose track of the outs when he fired a throw to third base after catching a fly ball to end the third inning. That drew chuckles from Puig's teammates - and a long stare from a perplexed Uribe.
Trailing by four in the fifth, New York loaded the bases on three straight singles. Beckett escaped by striking out Daniel Murphy on a high fastball and getting David Wright to ground out.
That dropped Wright to 1 for 21 against Beckett and 1 for 18 with two outs and runners in scoring position this season. But the nine-pitch at-bat may have sapped the right-hander, who gave up a long homer to Granderson leading off the sixth.
Chris Young doubled to deep left-center and Duda homered to right, trimming the Mets' deficit to 6-4. An animated Beckett gestured with his arm when catcher A.J. Ellis came out for a visit that preceded a walk to Wilmer Flores.
As he waited to be removed by manager Don Mattingly, the fiery Beckett bounced the ball on the back of the mound and appeared to be venting to teammates about a pitch "right down the middle."
J.P. Howell struck out three in 1 1-3 scoreless innings and Chris Withrow retired Duda and Flores with the bases loaded to preserve a two-run lead in the seventh.
Crawford stole second base in the second inning and went to third on catcher Juan Centeno's throwing error. With two outs, Beckett stepped to the plate a .134 career hitter and flicked a soft single to shallow right for his second RBI this season.
Granderson hit a leadoff double in the bottom half and scored on Flores' infield single with two outs.
NOTES: Dodgers LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder inflammation) is scheduled to come off the disabled list Wednesday night to make his first start since April 27. Ryu has not allowed a run in 26 innings on the road this season, going 3-0 in four starts. ... Beckett entered with a 1.67 ERA in his previous six outings. Pitching at Citi Field for the first time, he improved to 7-2 in 15 career starts against the Mets. It was the first time he faced them since 2009 with Boston. ... Mets CF Juan Lagares was home in the Dominican Republic because of a death in the family.