NEW YORK (AP) Matt Kemp and the Dodgers finally figured out Johan Santana. They're not the only ones to do that lately, either.

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

Luis Cruz connected for his first major league home run off Santana (6-7), who entered 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA in five career starts against the Dodgers. 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.

``We know what Johan's capable of. We hopped out on him early, worked counts and got good pitches to hit and kind of made him pay for his mistakes,'' Kemp said. ``Usually he's hitting spots and his stuff is a little bit better. I just think he was a little off today.''

Santana was pulled after three innings and fell to 0-3 with a 13.50 ERA in his last three starts, the worst three-game stretch of his stellar career. After missing last season following shoulder surgery, he is 3-5 with a 6.54 ERA in eight outings since throwing a career-high 134 pitches June 1 against St. Louis to finish off the first no-hitter in Mets history.

``That no-hitter stuff was a long time ago,'' Santana said. ``I'm OK, just not able to execute. I feel OK. I don't feel my best right now.''

Mets manager Terry Collins said the team would discuss options with Santana about how to get some ``energy'' back in his arm, and a stint on the disabled list is a possibility.

``He's not hurt,'' Collins said. ``We're going to talk about some alternatives as soon as I'm done in here. Skipping a start, backing him up some - those are some of things we are going to discuss.

``He just hasn't responded,'' the manager added. ``It's a command issue. He's not making the pitches.''

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 to back Aaron Harang (7-5), who allowed one earned run in five innings.

Rookie pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin socked a two-run homer off Shawn Tolleson in the seventh to trim New York's deficit to 7-6.

``It was a battle tonight, you know?'' Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. ``Seemed like we couldn't get away. Felt like everything I did didn't work out. It was just one of those games.''

Javy Guerra got out of the inning, however, and Ronald Belisario threw a called third strike past David Wright with a runner on to end the eighth.

Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth for his 17th save. With a runner on second, he struck out pinch-hitter Justin Turner and retired Andres Torres on a popup to end a game that took 3 hours, 41 minutes in an intermittent drizzle.

``It was nice to get the offense going out early,'' Andre Ethier said. ``Wish we could have figured out a way to have it continue and kind of put them away instead of letting them back in the game like that.''

Four of Valdespin's six homers have come as a pinch-hitter, tying Mark Carreon (1989) and Danny Heep (1983) for the club's single-season record. Daniel Murphy had a season-high four hits for New York, including two doubles.

Hairston made a tough play at third base to deny his brother, Scott, a leadoff single in the eighth.

The Mets, who snapped a six-game losing streak Thursday in Washington to salvage the final game of a 1-5 road trip, have lost eight of 11.

Ethier doubled and scored twice for the Dodgers, who opened a 10-game road trip with their second straight victory following a 1-7 slide. He also got his second stolen base of the season and scored on Rivera's seventh-inning single to make it 7-4.

Bobby Abreu opened the game with an infield single and Kemp, who hit a game-ending homer Wednesday against Philadelphia for his first long ball in 17 games since April 30, went deep for the second consecutive at-bat.

``I feel my legs getting under me. I feel better. I feel pretty good at the plate,'' said Kemp, who missed 51 games with a strained left hamstring during two stints on the disabled list before returning last Friday. ``I feel like my normal self.''

Hairston, who was 0 for 18 against Santana, made it 3-0 with an RBI single.

Santana walked three batters with two outs in the second, and Ethier's four-pitch pass with the bases loaded made it 4-2. Cruz, filling in for injured shortstop Dee Gordon, drove a 1-2 pitch to left in the third to make it a four-run game.

The home run ball was retrieved for Cruz so he can keep it as a memento.

``I'm very happy. Today is a big day for me,'' Cruz said. ``That guy is one of the best pitchers in the league.''

Santana threw 72 pitches in three innings. The 33-year-old left-hander yielded six runs on seven hits and has given up 19 runs, 28 hits and six homers over 12 2-3 innings in his past three outings.

Until his previous game at Atlanta, Santana had never given up six runs in consecutive starts. Now he's done it three times in a row.

``I'm just going through a tough time. I'm not on top of my game right now,'' Santana said. ``After everything I've been through, I'm very happy to take the mound every five days. I just have to keep working, battling, competing.''

NOTES: Dodgers RHP Chad Billingsley, on the DL since July 8 because of inflammation in his right elbow, was scheduled to throw a bullpen session at Citi Field. Mattingly said he's ``pretty confident'' Billingsley will be able to start Monday in St. Louis. ... New York will recall RHP Jeremy Hefner from Triple-A Buffalo before Saturday's game.