LOS ANGELES — Dave Roberts could not contain his grin as he took a seat in the Dodger Stadium interview room on Thursday, the manager still beaming an hour after his team cobbled together three runs in a bizarre eighth-inning rally that gave the Dodgers a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the New York Mets.
“We found a way today,” Roberts said. “It was bleak early, but we persevered.”
The same could be said about the 2025 season of Thursday’s improbable hero, Michael Conforto, the light-hitting left fielder whose two-out RBI single to left field – only his third hit in 36 at-bats with runners in scoring position this season – plated the winning run.
Conforto entered Thursday with a .165 batting average, a .583 OPS, three home runs and nine RBIs in 55 games. Perhaps the only reason he still held a roster spot and a starting job is the Dodgers have too much invested in the 32-year-old veteran – $17 million this year – to give up on him after two brutal months.
But the left-handed-hitting Conforto rewarded his club’s patience with an opposite-field single to cap a three-run eighth off one of baseball’s best relievers, giving the Dodgers a split of a four-game series with the team they beat in last October’s National League Championship Series.
“It’s been a grind up to this point,” Conforto said to a crowd of media members at his corner locker in the Dodgers clubhouse. “All I want to do is go up there and help us win, and in a lot of those situations, I’ve come up short. So to come through today was everything.”
Mets starter David Peterson gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings and handed a 5-3 lead to setup man Reed Garrett, who had allowed only two earned runs in 26⅔ innings of 27 games this season for an 0.68 ERA.
But Garrett walked Mookie Betts to open the eighth, and Will Smith roped an RBI double into the left field corner to cut New York’s lead to 5-4. Teoscar Hernández flied out to deep center, advancing Smith to third, and the Mets brought their infield in for Andy Pages, who tapped a slow roller to third.
Smith broke for home and stopped about 30 feet from the plate in hopes of getting caught in a rundown long enough for Pages to advance to second. Mets third baseman Brett Baty bounced his throw home, the ball caroming over the head of catcher Francisco Alvarez and into the glove of Garrett, who was backing up the play.
But Garrett was screened off by Alvarez and unable to apply a tag in time to catch Smith, who slid home for a 5-5 tie.
“I was kind of dead to rights, so that’s all you can do,” Smith said of his attempt to start a rundown. “I had a chance to get my foot in there, and it worked out.”
Tommy Edman struck out, Pages took second on a wild pitch, and pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked. Conforto then slapped a first-pitch, 93 mph cut-fastball on the outer half for his game-winner, and closer Tanner Scott struck out two of four batters in a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.
“It’s huge,” Betts said of Conforto’s hit. “It doesn’t matter who it is or what you’re going through, whatever you’re going through, we’re all going through. [The fans are] out there cheering for him. He definitely felt the love from Dodger Nation, for sure.”
Added Roberts: “I think that’s a huge exhale for him.”
The Dodgers remained within striking distance thanks to unheralded relievers Jake Dreyer, who threw two scoreless innings, and José Ureña, who threw 1⅔ scoreless innings with the help of Smith, his catcher, before being nicked for a run in the eighth.
Ureña, a hard-throwing right-hander who was signed on Tuesday to help fortify a bullpen that has been ravaged by injuries, replaced Dreyer with a runner on first and one out in the sixth and gave up a single to Pete Alonso.
Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, but Ureña won a nine-pitch duel with Jeff McNeil, striking out the second baseman with a 97-mph sinker, and Smith picked off Marte at third to complete a rare home-to-third, strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play.
“That was [major league field coordinator] Bob Geren and [third baseman] Miguel Rojas, kind of talking and potentially seeing an opportunity to backpick Marte right there,” Roberts said. “That was obviously huge.”
Ureña retired the side in order in the seventh to maintain a 4-3 deficit and retired the first two batters in the eighth before giving up a double to Marte, an intentional walk to Juan Soto and an RBI single to Alonso that pushed New York’s lead to 5-3.
Dodgers starter Landon Knack was knocked out in the fourth inning, the right-hander giving up a solo homer to Alonso in the second, solo homers to Brandon Nimmo and Marte in a three-run third and walking Nimmo and Marte with one out in the fourth.
Roberts summoned the left-handed Dryer to face the left-handed-hitting Soto, who walked to load the bases. Up stepped Alonso, the right-handed-hitting cleanup man who slugged two homers in Wednesday night’s 6-1 win. The matchup did not seem to favor the Dodgers at all.
But Dreyer struck out Alonso with a 2-and-2 slider and got McNeil to fly to right to end the inning. Dreyer got into more trouble in the fifth when he gave up a one-out single to Baty and a two-out single to Luisangel Acuña.
Nimmo followed with a soft liner up the middle, but Betts, the Dodgers shortstop, made a running, lunging catch behind the second-base bag to end the inning.
Peterson entered with a 4-2 record and 2.69 ERA in 11 starts, the left-hander yielding two earned runs or less in 10 of those games, but the Dodgers roughed him up for three runs in the third, a rally that began with Rojas’ one-out walk.
Shohei Ohtani grounded a single to center, Rojas taking third, and Betts drove an RBI double over the head of Tyrone Taylor in center field to cut New York’s lead to 4-1.
Smith’s RBI single to make it 4-2, and Betts scored on Teoscar Hernández’s fielder’s choice grounder to make it 4-3.
Five innings later, the Dodgers turned a free pass, a big hit from Smith, an errant throw by the Mets and Conforto’s clutch hit into a game-winning rally.
“It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t how we scripted it,” Roberts said. “But we’ll take it.”