Mets 7 Pirates 5
The Mets caught the Yankees last night but they still couldn’t catch the Braves.
With their 7-5 victory over Pittsburgh last night in the series opener at Shea, the Mets reached 60 victories – the exact total their idle Bronx neighbors have. But the first-place Braves remained a half-game ahead of the six-in-a-row Mets in the NL East with their 6-1 victory against Montreal.
Benny Agbayani, whose average had “dipped” to .300, regained his rookie luster, pounding out two hits good for three RBIs to lead the early barrage against the Pirates. The Mets racked up their seven spot in the first four innings, mainly against Pirates starter Francisco Cordova, who lasted 31/3, allowing six runs and five hits.
Continuing to get great run support, Rick Reed earned the win to go to 9-3, although closer Armando Benitez pitched a horrible ninth, walking four straight batters after striking out Wayne Morris to start the inning. The final bases on balls led to his removal, with Turk Wendell , the Mets’ fifth pitcher of the game, coming in.
Ahead 7-4, Benitez loaded the bases, including walking on four pitches Dale Sveum, who was the Yankees’ bullpen catcher for the second half of last season.
Al Martin came up as the go-ahead run with one out in the ninth and walked to drive in a run. Pitching coach Dave Wallace summoned Wendell from the bullpen and he retired Abraham Nunez on an infield popup for the second out. Then Wendell got Brian Giles on a bouncer to first to spare Benitez’ hide.
“Everybody has a bad day. It’s bound to happen,” Wendell said. “We showed the depth we have in our bullpen. It doesn’t miss a beat. It shows a lot about our team that we got out of this.”
“He’s a professional,” Bobby Valentine said of Benitez. “He realizes he didn’t have it tonight, darn it. It was one of those days.”
Armed with a cushy 7-2 lead, Reed ran out of gas in the sixth. After allowing a leadoff walk to Martin, he retired Nunez and Giles before cleanup hitter Kevin Young launched his 15th homer – a 416-foot blast to left-center – slicing the deficit to 7-4.
Ed Sprague and Warren Morris then hit back-to-back singles, bringing up as the potential tying run Brant Brown, who had socked a two-run homer in the second. Reed left for Greg McMichael. This time, Brown hit a towering fly to deep right that stayed in the park and ended the Pirates’ threat.
“We used all of our resources,” Bobby Valentine said. “Rick didn’t hold the lead as well as we would have liked.
The Mets broke to a 3-0 lead in the first inning for the second straight night, touching starter Cordova for four singles. Ventura stroked a two-run single with the bases loaded and Agbayani ripped a RBI single to provide the Mets a 3-0 lead. The inning ended on terrific diving catch by right fielder Brown on a sinking liner by Rey Ordonez.
The Pirates climbed back to 3-2 in the second when standout rookie Warren Morris doubled off Reed and Brown hit his third homer of the season, a bomb to right.
Roger Cedeno’s RBI single made it 4-2 in the third and the Mets broke open the game with a three-run fourth during which they faced three Pirates’ pitchers, who combined to issue five walks.
After reliever Scott Sauerbeck walked Mike Piazza intentionally to load the bases, the lefthander proceeded to walk Ventura on four pitches to bring in a run.
In came Brad Clontz, who surrendered an Agbayani opposite- field liner to rightfield that scored two runs to put the Mets up 7-2 – a lead they nearly blew.