BACKED BY 3 HRS, SCHERZER LEADS DODGERS PAST METS

Trea Turner, Albert Pujols and Chris Taylor each homered, and Max Scherzer won for the third time in four starts since being acquired as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the slumping New York Mets 4-3 Saturday at home.

The surging Dodgers have won nine consecutive games, matching a seasonbest win streak. Six of those wins have come against the Mets, who have dropped eight of nine overall.

Kenley Jansen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 27th save. He hit Kevin Pillar to lead off the inning, then got Brandon Nimmo to ground

Dodgers 4, Mets 3

out and struck out Jeff Mcneil and Pete Alonso.

“We keep grinding. We keep making pitches,” Jansen said. “If we click, and we are clicking right now, nobody can stop us. We’ve just got to continue to do this and do us and continue to focus for the big prize.”

The Dodgers had a threerun lead through six innings before Alonso hit a two-run home run, his 28th of the season, off reliever Blake Treinen in the seventh.

New York squandered a ripe opportunity in the fifth when it loaded the bases against Scherzer with two outs. Scherzer struck out J.D. Davis to end the threat, but it was a taxing 34-pitch inning for Scherzer, whose day was done after that big strikeout.

“Things were kind of spinning out of control. In that situation, you just want to execute and get the out,” Scherzer said. “Things are going sideways, just collect yourself and execute the pitches that you need to. I’d thrown J.D. Davis some good sliders earlier in the game and in that situation I wanted to try to get a heater by and fortunately enough I was (able to).”

Nimmo homered for the Mets, a solo shot to right field off Scherzer in the fifth inning. Scherzer allowed just that one run and five hits. He struck out eight and walked one. Nimmo had three hits.

Rich Hill (6-5) allowed three solo homers over five innings, including Pujols’ 15th of the season. The 41year-old Pujols previously homered against the 40year-old Hill on Aug. 17, 2007. The 14-year, four-day span between consecutive home runs off a pitcher is the third longest in MLB history, according to STATS. The only longer stretches were Carlos Beltran and Bartolo Colon, (15 years, 313 days) and Barry Bonds, Jesse Orosco (14 years, 69 days).

Scherzer (11-4) has allowed five earned runs in 211⁄3 innings (2.11 ERA) since being acquired along with Turner from the Nationals on July 30. The Dodgers have won all four games in which Scherzer has started, including a pair against the Mets.

Notable

Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts (hip) was baserunning at full speed Saturday and could return to the lineup this week. LHP Clayton Kershaw (elbow) is expected to throw off a mound soon.

• Mets infielder Javier Baez (back spasms) could be activated as early as today.

• Mike Trout says he is still aiming to return to the Angels lineup this season despite a lengthy and frustrating recovery from a calf injury that has sidelined him since May 17. “I’m just trying to get back,” he said. “Obviously, we’re running out of time here, but my main focus is to get back on the field no matter when it is.”

• Brewers OF Tyrone Taylor was placed on the 10day injured list with a right oblique strain. Taylor, hitting .245 with 10 homers in 82 games, started Friday night and was 0-for-2 before exiting after four innings.