Santana Struggles as Mets Fall to Dodgers

Matt Kemp homered early and the Los Angeles Dodgers hammered a struggling Johan Santana before holding off the New York Mets 7-6 on Friday night.

Luis Cruz connected for his first major league home run and the Dodgers finally solved Santana (6-7), who entered 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA in five career starts against them. That included eight innings of three-hit ball in a 5-0 win June 30 at Los Angeles, but the two-time Cy Young Award winner has hit the skids hard since then.

In addition to the two-run homers by Kemp and Cruz off Santana, the Dodgers got RBI singles from Jerry Hairston Jr. and Juan Rivera. The early offense benefited starter Aaron Harang (7-5), who allowed one earned run in five innings.

Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth for his 17th save.

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