NEW YORK -- Ian Thomas has heard about his physical resemblance to Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw. While he did not quite duplicate Kershaw's dominance from Thursday, Thomas was pretty good Friday night.

Pressed into his first career start when right-hander Zack Greinke flew back to Los Angeles for the birth of his first child, Thomas pitched five effective innings and the Dodgers cruised to a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets.

Former Met third baseman Justin Turner, right fielder Yasiel Puig and shortstop Jimmy Rollins hit home runs for the Dodgers, but the story of their fifth win in eight games was Thomas, who found out he was making his first career start Thursday night.

Thomas did not retire the first 18 Mets like Kershaw did in the series opener but exceeded expectations, allowing one run and three hits. He struck out five without a walk and threw 49 of 81 pitches for strikes before Los Angeles finished up with four relievers.

"I've been called Clayton a few times so far," Thomas said. "I guess it's the scruff and the hair a little bit but far away from what he's been doing. Trying to catch up to him is going to be a long road."

Still it was another strong showing for Los Angeles starting pitching. Thomas became the 13th different starter used by manager Don Mattingly, and his outing marked the 29th straight time that a Los Angeles starter allowed four earned runs or less.

"I think obviously he was really good," Mattingly said of Thomas, who had not thrown more than three innings in any appearance until Friday. "He gives up that run there in the last inning but we said we didn't really know what to expect. We wanted him to pitch (like) his last time out in LA, I thought he was good for two innings. We wanted him to kind of pitch like a bullpen guy just kind of be aggressive. If he got through one, two, three, whatever, but obviously for him to able to go five for us is huge tonight."

As for Greinke, Mattingly said he will return and start Sunday. The Dodgers did not announce a starting pitcher for Saturday.

"I thought it was pretty big, having Greinke down on paternity leave and being able to give our guys a chance," Thomas said. "We put the bat on the ball early and to come in and put those shutdown innings up, I felt that was pretty key."

By the time Thomas lost his shutout on an RBI groundout by Mets rookie left fielder Michael Conforto in the sixth, the Dodgers had a 6-0 lead, getting all those runs in the first three innings off left-hander Jonathon Niese (5-9).

Turner gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with a one-out double in the first. After Thomas hit a double-play grounder that scored the second run, center fielder Joc Pederson made it 3-0 with a double to right field past the diving attempt of first baseman Lucas Duda.

Turner made it 4-0 when he led off the third with his 13th home run, and Puig gave Los Angeles a six-run cushion with his sixth homer run two batters later.

While the Dodgers capped a rewarding day, it was a busy day for the Mets before and during their sixth loss in eight games.

Before the game they added Conforto to the roster, but he did little to help an offense that has scored three runs or less in 57 games. They also were unsure if Niese would make the start but he stayed with the team and his wife went into labor while he allowed six runs and eight hits in three innings before watching the birth of his baby boy on FaceTime.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised if (the baby) was a fairly large factor," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He was on call up until about probably four, five o'clock when he determined he wanted to pitch."

"Just one of those things where they got to him a little early and some other things happened in his personal life," Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki said. "I can't really speak to that, but I thought he battled well."

That also came after reports began circulating that the Mets were obtaining infielders Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson in a trade from the Atlanta Braves for two minor league pitchers. New York did not officially announce the trade immediately after the game, and the players will likely be at Citi Field Saturday.

NOTES: LF Michael Conforto is the first Mets position player to appear in the majors one year after being drafted. The previous three instances for New York were with RHPs Eddie Kunz (2008), Mike Pelfrey (2006) and Calvin Schiraldi (1984). ... Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said RHP Zack Greinke will pitch Sunday. Greinke's wife, Emily, gave birth to a boy, Bode Nicholas, on Thursday in Los Angeles. Dodgers LHP Brett Anderson likely would start Tuesday, Mattingly said. ... Los Angeles OF Alex Guerrero (back stiffness) was a late scratch after getting injured in batting practice. Mattingly said no tests are scheduled for Guerrero. ... To make room for Conforto on the 40-man roster, RHP Rafael Montero was moved to the 60-day disabled list. Montero has been on the disabled list with a right rotator cuff injury since May 14.