By Larry Fleisher
PA Sports Ticker Contributing Writer
FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - Oliver Perez experienced little
difficulty getting through five innings. The sixth was another
story, but his teammates provided him with enough of a cushion.
Perez picked up his first win in nearly a month while Carlos
Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back home runs as the Mets
held off the Cincinnati Reds, 8-3, in the rubber game of a
three-game series Sunday.
Perez (3-3) turned in one of his better outings of the season,
allowing three runs and three hits in six innings. He gave up
just one hit and no runs through five innings before struggling
in his final frame.
"He has to continue to get better," Mets manager Willie Randolph
said. "He pitched well today and he had a real good curveball
and I thought he mixed it in well with some of the other
pitches. Overall, I thought it was another positive outing."
"He was nails in the first five innings," New York first baseman
Carlos Delgado added. "It was good. It was a good performance.
We want him pitching like he's capable of doing."
Perez picked up his ninth career victory over the Reds - with
most of those coming when he was a member of the Pittsburgh
Pirates. He also turned in a decent performance after allowing
a combined 17 runs and 14 hits in just 13 1/3 innings spanning
his last three starts.
The good news for Perez and the Mets is that the offense gave
him a 6-0 lead, which enabled the Reds to only halve the deficit
with their three runs in the sixth.
"I'm getting more comfortable and hitters, they've started
hitting like both Carloses (Beltran and Delgado)," said Perez,
who tied a season high with eight strikeouts and also walked
four. "That's what we need and for starters we need to keep the
team in the game."
Trouble started for Perez when he issued a leadoff walk to Ken
Griffey Jr. The Reds could have had another runner, but Church
made a nice running catch against the right-field wall in foul
territory, retiring Brandon Phillips.
Edwin Encarnacion followed with a double to left and Adam Dunn
broke up the shutout with a sacrifice fly. Jeff Keppinger lined
an RBI triple and scored on a wild pitch, but Perez avoided
further damage by retiring Paul Bako.
"There's no way of totally figuring (Perez) out," Randolph said.
"That's just the way he goes out and plays. His stuff is good
but it's like someone trying to harness a lot of that talent.
The thing about Oliver is he competes, no matter what. He might
drive you a little nuts every once in a while, but he
competes."
The Mets put together a pair of three-run innings off rookie
Johnny Cueto (2-4) in the first and fifth. Beltran and Moises
Alou had RBI doubles in the first before New York was held to
just one hit through the next three frames.
Luis Castillo, who was lifted with left quad discomfort in the
sixth, led off the fifth with an infield single. With one out,
Beltran drove a 1-2 slider over the right field fence for his
third home run and first since April 24 at Washington.
"That particular at-bat, I was looking for a slider," Beltran
said. "I got it in the middle of the plate and I was able to
hit it."
Three pitches later, Church crushed a 1-1 pitch over the
right-center field fence to make it 6-0.
Damion Easley and David Wright added RBI singles in the sixth
for the Mets, who have scored 32 runs in their last three wins
and have also collected 54 hits in their last five contests.
Cueto lasted just 4 2/3 innings and was reached for six runs and
eight hits.
"He was throwing the ball hard but he was throwing down the
middle of the plate," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "Some
Latin players have family here and they want to perform well and
that was his first time pitching in New York.
"A lot of time when you don't locate and you have good velocity,
it's adrenaline. They jumped on him so quick, he didn't have
time to settle down."
The Reds lost for the 11th time in their last 17 games and
prolonged their latest loss when they batted out of order in the
ninth following a double switch.
Backup catcher David Ross came to the plate, instead
eighth-place hitter Corey Patterson and when Randolph informed
the umpires, it resulted in a lengthy and confusing delay.
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