LOS ANGELES_Dave Roberts was like a puppet master in the seventh inning Tuesday night, furiously tugging the strings of the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen until all the lines got crossed and his marionettes collapsed in a heap.
The manager's third pitching change of the inning left him with what he thought was a favorable matchup, even with the bases loaded and one out: Dodgers left-hander and ground-ball specialist Scott Alexander against left-handed-hitting Michael Conforto.
The move backfired spectacularly. Alexander caught too much of the plate with a 93-mph sinker and Conforto drove it over the left-center-field wall for his first career grand slam, ending a tie score and pushing the New York Mets toward a 7-3 victory in front of 45,713 in Dodger Stadium.
The two starting pitchers, left-handers Rich Hill of the Dodgers and Steven Matz, dueled to a draw through six innings, Hill giving up two runs and six hits, striking out six batters and walking one, and Matz giving up two runs and four hits, striking out six and walking three.
With the score tied 2-2 and Hill's pitch count at 104, Roberts turned to right-hander Yimi Garcia to start the seventh inning. Adeiny Hechavarria led off with an eight-pitch walk. When Aaron Altherr, who bats right-handed, was announced as a pinch-hitter, Roberts pulled Garcia for right-hander Dylan Floro.
Altherr walked to put two runners on base. Amed Rosario dropped a sacrifice bunt toward third base that Floro fielded cleanly, but his throw to first base was low and popped out of Max Muncy's glove for a throwing error, loading the bases with no outs.
Floro struck out J.D. Davis with an elevated 95-mph fastball. On came Alexander to face Conforto, whose opposite-field slam gave the Mets a 6-2 lead and sent the Dodgers toward their third loss in 13 games.
Ross Stripling replaced Alexander after the home run and gave up a double to Pete Alonso and a walk to Wilson Ramos before getting Todd Frazier to ground into an inning-ending double play.
In all, five Dodgers relievers gave up five runs on a home run, two doubles and five walks in three innings. The Mets won despite going two for 20 with runners in scoring position.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith had an eventful major league debut, smoking a 104-mph one-hopper off the glove of shortstop Rosario in the second inning for his first big league hit, doubling to left-center field and scoring in the seventh, and throwing out Carlos Gomez attempting to steal second base in the sixth.
Smith scored on Matt Beaty's pinch-hit single in the seventh inning to make it 6-3, and the Dodgers had slugger Cody Bellinger up with two on and two out, representing the tying run. But Bellinger, who hit a two-run home run in the third, flied out to left field to end the inning.
The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on three singles, two of which rolled about 45 feet each. Matz led off with a squibber down the third base line that Justin Turner couldn't make a barehand grab of. Matz was credited with a hit.
Rosario singled sharply to left. Davis flied to the warning track in right field that was deep enough to advance Matz to third, even with the strong-armed Bellinger making the catch. Conforto followed with a check-swing tapper to third.
Turner charged and fielded the ball cleanly, but his off-balance throw home was a little wide, giving Matz just enough of an opening to slide into the plate before Smith's tag.
Matz got the first two outs of the fourth inning before walking David Freese. He got ahead of Bellinger with two strikes but hung an 0-and-2, 78-mph curveball that Bellinger crushed to right-center field for his team-leading 20th home run and a 2-1 lead.
It was Bellinger's seventh home run in 67 at-bats against left-handers this season. Bellinger had six home runs in 186 at-bats against left-handers in 2018.
That advantage for the Dodgers disappeared five pitches into the fourth inning, when Frazier drove Hill's 1-and-2 fastball on the outer half of the plate over the wall in left-center field for his third home run and a 2-2 tie.
