Mets 7
Brewers 5
MILWAUKEE – One night it’s Cliff Floyd. Another night it’s Mike Piazza. And last night it was Doug Mientkiewicz, Carlos Beltran and Roberto Hernandez.
Everyone is contributing right now for these Mets, and that’s one of the main reasons why they keep winning.
The Mets won their fourth straight last night, this one a 7-5 win over the Brewers. They’ve now won six of seven, are 17-14 and are three games over .500 for the first time since July 9 of last season. If they sweep Milwaukee today, they’d be four over for the first time since July 31, 2002.
Mientkiewicz had the night’s biggest hit, an eighth-inning solo shot over the right-field wall that snapped a 5-5 tie. It made no difference that he entered the night hitting .216 or that in his last 50 at-bats before the eighth-inning one, he had tallied just eight hits. He still managed to deliver here.
As did Beltran last night, slamming two homers and driving in four runs. And Hernandez, who closed out the ninth (Braden Looper had pitched three days straight) for his first save since 2002.
Pedro Martinez wasn’t bad, either, despite a shaky line. He gave up five runs in seven innings, but believe it or not, Martinez (who got the win to move to 4-1) only surrendered three hits. Two of them were homers, though – a three-run shot by Carlos Lee and a two-run homer by Lyle Overbay.
Scoreless after three, David Wright got the Mets on the board in the fourth. On a 3-1 count against righty Wes Obermueller, Wright slammed an opposite-field shot over the right-field wall. It was his sixth homer of the year and the second straight game he’s hit an opposite-field solo shot.
It was only one run, but based on how brilliant Martinez has been – and based on the fact that he was perfect through the first three innings last night – it almost seemed like it’d be enough. It wasn’t.
In the fourth, Martinez put the first two on with a hit-by-pitch and a soft single to right. One out later, Martinez hung a changeup and Lee ripped it over the left-field wall for a three-run homer. It was the first homer Martinez had allowed since Adam Dunn’s first-inning three-run shot on Opening Day – a span of 45 innings.
Later in the inning, some overconfident Milwaukee fans began chanting “Who’s your daddy?” But Martinez would rebound from the homer, retiring the next eight Brewers, six by strikeout. He’d finish by fanning 11, the 101st time he’s whiffed in double digits.
Just as Martinez rebounded from the homer, so did the Mets. In the fifth, Beltran continued his dazzling hitting when Martinez is on the mound, golfing a two-run homer to right to tie things at 3-3.
In the seventh, the Mets jumped back on top when Mike Cameron (two hits, two walks) walked and Beltran slammed his second two-run homer of the game, this one a 425-foot bomb to right. It was Beltran’s 13th career multi-homer game and first as a Met.
All six of Beltran’s homers have now come in Martinez starts, and in Pedro’s seven games, Beltran has gone 15-for-31 and driven in 17 runs.
But shockingly, Martinez couldn’t hold the lead.
In the bottom of the seventh with Lee on first, Overbay launched a two-run shot just over the leftfield wall to tie it at 5-5. After the ball cleared, Martinez continued staring out to left, seemingly in disbelief that he had just surrendered the game-tying homer. Again, the Brewer fans began chanting “Who’s your daddy?”
After his go-ahead shot in the eighth, Mientkiewicz made it known on this night, he was lord of the manor.
DEAD BATTERY?
Mike Piazza had not caught for Pedro Martinez in Mets hurler’s last three outings. Here’s Pedro’s stats with and without Piazza behind plate:
Piazza (Yes/No) Date Opp. Score IP ER SO WP Dec.
Y Apr. 4 @Cin 6-7 6 3 12 0
N Apr. 10 @Atl 6-1 9 1 9 0 W
Y Apr. 16 Fla 4-3 7 2 9 3
N Apr.21 @Fla 10-1 7 1 8 1 W
N Apr. 26 Atl 3-4 7 4 8 0 L
N May 2 Phi 5-1 7 1 6 0 W
Mets W-L ER ER SO WP ERA Pedro W-LWith Piazza 1-1 13 5 21 3 3.46 0-0
Without Piazza 3-1 30 7 31 1 2.10 3-1
