Mets down Dodgers; LA falls into second place
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Andres Torres drove in the winner in the fifth as the New York Mets edged the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, in the opener of a four-game set.
David Wright went 2-for-3 with a solo homer and two RBI while Ruben Tejada and Mike Nickeas each scored a run for the Mets, who have won two straight following a four-game losing streak. Chris Young (2-1) gave up two runs on six hits with six strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in the win.
"It was fun with the pitching matchup, but I wanted to win the game," said Young. "My slider is getting sharper, but it's still a work in progress. I want to be better and I'll keep working hard to give my team a chance to win."
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Elian Herrera and Juan Rivera each had two hits and an RBI for the Dodgers, who came into the contest having been blanked in all three games of a set against the Giants and have now lost five straight and nine of 10. Chris Capuano (9-3) lost for the first time in five starts as he gave up three runs on five hits with five strikeouts over seven innings.
"I felt good and that I had better stuff tonight," said Capuano. "I hung a few pitches up there, but other than that I thought I made some pretty good pitches."
The Dodgers dropped a game back of the Giants for first place in the NL West. It's the first time since April 10 that they've been out of first place.
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The Mets struck in their first at-bat as Tejada hit a one-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch and came home thanks to Wright's double.
New York made it a 2-0 game in the fourth as Wright led off the frame with a shot over the left-center wall on a 1-1 pitch, his ninth of the year.
Los Angeles finally broke its scoreless streak in the fourth inning. Dee Gordon led off the frame with a double and Herrera quickly brought him home with a triple over the head of center fielder Torres. Rivera followed with a single to tie the game.
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The runs broke a scoreless streak of 33 innings, the longest string for the team since 1962.
The game didn't stay tied for long, though, as the Mets took the lead back in the fifth. With one out, Nickeas singled and Young sacrificed him over to second. Torres followed with a double to right for a 3-2 lead.
Los Angeles threatened in the seventh as the team put men on first and second with two outs, but Tim Byrdak struck out Gordon to end the frame.
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In the eighth, Herrera singled to start the frame, but Rivera grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and James Loney grounded out to end the inning.
Bobby Parnell worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the season.
Game Notes
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The Mets took five of seven from the Dodgers in 2011...Young improved to 3-5 in 15 starts against the Dodgers...Capuano fell to 0-5 in six career starts against the Mets...The Dodgers' longest scoreless streak was 41 innings, set from Aug. 21-24, 1908.