NEW YORK (AP) - Early on, everything went wrong for the Los Angeles Dodgers. They gave up three home runs in the first inning, were held without a hit until the fifth.
And then that big blue machine came storming back.
Yasiel Puig hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh and the resilient Dodgers went deep five times, rallying past the New York Mets 7-4 on Saturday to extend their incredible surge.
Chris Taylor, Justin Turner, Corey Seager and rookie Cody Bellinger also connected for the Dodgers, who are 43-7 since June 7. That’s the best 50-game run by a big league team since the 1912 New York Giants compiled the same mark from May 14 to July 3.
“Got ’em,” Turner said with a smile through his bushy red beard. “It’s definitely something that down the road is going to be cool to talk about for a long time.”
Los Angeles has won all but one of its last 13 games, upping the top record in the majors to an astounding 78-32. That puts the thundering Dodgers at 46 games above .500 for the first time since they were 98-51 on Sept. 15, 1962.
That team - led by Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and NL MVP Maury Wills - didn’t even win the pennant after dropping a best-of-three playoff to rival San Francisco. This year’s Dodgers are looking to end a World Series drought that dates to the franchise’s last championship in 1988.
“It’s a wave that we’re riding,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I know our players and they realize that we haven’t done anything yet.”
Said Turner: “Everyone knows what the goal is. Everyone knows what we’re trying to do.”
Leadoff man Michael Conforto, Wilmer Flores and Curtis Granderson homered in the first off Dodgers lefty Rich Hill, the NL pitcher of the month for July.
Mets starter Seth Lugo kept Los Angeles hitless until Yasmani Grandal’s two-out double in the fifth, but it didn’t last.
“You’ve got to keep going the whole game,” Lugo said. “I think we got a little complacent. They didn’t.”
Taylor homered leading off the sixth, connecting in a third straight game for the first time in his career. One out later, Turner singled and Bellinger nearly went down to one knee to lift his 31st homer over the right-center fence, tying it at 3.
“Man, it’s been fun,” Bellinger said. “Both sides of the ball as a team are clicking. So I think we’re just trying to ride it out as long as we can.”
Puig hit his 21st of the season leading off the seventh against Paul Sewald (0-4), lining a laser shot to left field for his second homer in two games. Turner sent a solo drive to center off Sewald in the eighth, and Seager added a two-run homer into the second deck in right field against Fernando Salas in the ninth.
“We’re just very confident. We understand at any point in the game we can go off,” Taylor said. “There’s just a feeling like, we’re going to come back at some point.”
The five home runs equaled a season high for Los Angeles, delighting plenty of vocal Dodgers fans in the Citi Field crowd of 40,060.
“I think it’s just a matter of time before we start hitting ’em,” Bellinger said.
Brandon Morrow (4-0) pitched a hitless sixth for the win.
Rene Rivera homered in the ninth for the Mets (49-59). They have lost six of seven, matching a season low at 10 games under .500.
ONE-SIDED
New York has dropped eight straight to the Dodgers dating to May 2016, the club’s longest skid against Los Angeles since 1964. The Mets have given up 23 homers and been outscored 49-15 in losing all six meetings this season.
“That’s why they’ve got the record they do,” manager Terry Collins said. “It’s tough to hold them down.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: LHP Alex Wood is feeling a little bit better every day and his upcoming bullpen session will tell a lot about whether he’ll make his next scheduled start, Roberts said. Wood said he felt a little tired after beating Atlanta on Thursday night. The team doesn’t want to rush him back out to the mound and risk an injury. “He’s as honest with us as anybody,” Roberts said. … RHP Yu Darvish will get an extra day of rest before starting Thursday’s series finale at NL West rival Arizona.
Mets: RF-1B Jay Bruce was rested against the lefty. … Collins was able to give reliever Hansel Robles a second consecutive day off after an MRI came back clean. Robles has some general fatigue, Collins said. … CF Juan Lagares (broken left thumb) started his fifth rehab game with Double-A Binghamton but needs to play a full nine innings once or twice before coming off the disabled list, Collins said.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: The series finale Sunday night features a pair of left-handers on the mound when Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-6, 3.83 ERA) starts for Los Angeles against scuffling Steven Matz (2-4, 5.50). Ryu needed only 85 pitches to toss seven scoreless innings last time out against San Francisco. He is 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA in four career starts vs. the Mets.
Mets: Matz has lost three straight decisions and is 0-2 with a 12.21 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break. He is 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA in three regular-season outings against Los Angeles, all on the road.
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