The Mets were cruising along with a four-run lead. The way the Los Angeles Dodgers are rolling, no lead is safe against them.
The Dodgers got consecutive doubles by Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez in the 12th inning and pulled out a 5-4 victory Wednesday night, extending their winning streak to eight games. It's the franchise's longest since taking nine straight from May 9-18, 2010.
The Mets got swept at Dodger Stadium for the first time since 2009, and fell to 2-4 on their 11-game trip.
"Each game we got out in front early and never got anything after that," manager Terry Collins said. "You're never happy when you lose three straight and you had a chance to win each game."
Marlon Byrd hit a three-run homer on a 3-0 pitch from Chris Capuano in the third, extending New York's lead to 4-0. Capuano gave up three consecutive one-out hits, including singles by Daniel Murphy and Josh Satin before Byrd connected.
Byrd finished a triple short of the cycle. He went 3 for 6 and raised his average to .369 in 36 career games against the Dodgers.
Andrew Brown's RBI double with two outs in the second scored New York's first run.
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Mets starter Dillon Gee allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one.
"We played three really good games, and to come out on the short end is tough," he said.
Gee helped himself with the bat, hitting his first career triple with two outs in the fourth, diving head-first into third.
"It hurt," Gee said. "It's been a long time since I had to slide like that, so it definitely wasn't very graceful. I was a little tired for a little bit, but I got over it pretty quick and got back to pitching."
His left arm bled after the slide.
"I hit my stomach real hard and it knocked the breath out of me," he said.
Collins didn't look happy when Gee returned to the dugout.
"I'm not sure that the triple took anything out of him, but I'm not sure the head-first slide didn't," he said. "That was something I don't want to see too much of."
Pinch-hitter Andre Ethier tied the game with a two-run homer off LaTroy Hawkins in the ninth. Ethier returned after sitting out a day earlier with tightness in his left calf.
After going hitless in his first five at-bats, Puig legged out a double that glanced off Omar Quintanilla's glove and into center field. Gonzalez hit the next pitch off Pedro Feliciano (0-1) down the left field line.
Paco Rodriguez (3-2) pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for the victory, the Dodgers' 12th in a row in one-run games, extending their franchise record.
Los Angeles is 40-8 since June 22, the best 48-game run in the major leagues since the 1942 Cardinals went 41-7 from Aug. 11-Oct. 1, according to information provided by the Dodgers from the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Dodgers closed to 4-2 in the sixth on a fielder's choice groundout by Mark Ellis and a two-out RBI single by Jerry Hairston Jr.
Puig's defense sparkled on a bang-bang play in the second when Justin Turner singled to right field. Puig raced to pick up the ball and fired to third base to nail Marlon Byrd.
Capuano gave up four runs and 10 hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out three and walked two.
