Mets snap four-game losing streak with 5-3 interleague win over Red Sox
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Mets snap four-game losing streak with 5-3 interleague win over Red Sox
BOSTON - Don't mess with Johan Santana. Oh, and hurry back, Jose Reyes.
Despite more sloppiness behind him, and fueled by a confrontation with Kevin Youkilis, Santana willed the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Red Sox Friday night to snap the team's four-game losing streak.
The ace again didn't get fielding help, particularly at shortstop, where fill-in Ramon Martinez committed two more .errors to raise his total to four in two starts at the position. Yet Santana limited Boston to three runs (two earned) in seven innings to improve to 6-2 with a 1.50 ERA.
"We needed to win a ballgame. That is for sure," said Jerry Manuel, who had to shift Carlos Beltran to DH because of a knee bruise and remove Ryan Church in the fourth with right hamstring soreness that knocked his body out of alignment and caused his hip to lock up. Manuel also didn't have J.J. Putz, whose neck ached as he readied for the eighth.
The damage resulting from fielding follies nearly was worse. With Santana nursing a 4-3 lead in the sixth, Martinez bounced a throw past second baseman Luis Castillo trying to get lead runner J.D. Drew on a grounder by Jason Varitek - allowing both runners to reach scoring position with one out. Santana then retired Julio Lugo on a popout and Jacoby Ellsbury on a groundout to escape. Martinez nearly committed his fifth error on the .inning-ending play. After fielding Ellsbury's grounder, he bounced the throw to inexperienced first baseman Daniel Murphy, who scooped it to avert disaster.
"To some degree that has to be frustrating, but he battled," Manuel said.
Santana departed at 118 pitches, his highest total since a 125-pitch gem in the second-to-last game of last season. He matched John Maine for the highest total by a Met this season. The latest faulty fielding behind Santana upped his total of unearned runs allowed this season to seven - more than the entire pitching staffs of the Phillies or Dodgers entering the weekend.
With Putz bypassed, Bobby Parnell .entered for the eighth as "Sweet Caroline" blared at Fenway Park and the fans sang along. Admittedly amped by the scene, Parnell twice popped 100 mph fastballs during a scoreless frame. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect ninth to improve to 12-for-12 in save chances.
Angel Pagan, who replaced Church, delivered an RBI single in the seventh against Justin Masterson as the Mets (22-19) opened a two-run cushion.
Facing Daisuke Matsuzaka (0-2) in Dice K's return from the DL, Gary Sheffield led off the second with a homer, ending the Mets' seven-game homerless drought, the longest by any team this season. Varitek answered with a solo shot off Santana in the bottom half, but sloppy play by the Sox's backup shortstop benefited the Mets in a three-run fourth.
After David Wright's single extended his hitting streak to 13 games and scored Beltran, Matsuzaka should have been out of the inning trailing 2-1. He induced Jeremy Reed into a potential double-play grounder, but Lugo, filling in at shortstop with Jed Lowrie on the DL, caught the throw from Dustin Pedroia flat-footed and couldn't generate enough on his throw to first to retire Reed. Omir Santos and Martinez followed with RBI singles - Martinez's snapping an 0-for-13 skid since his call-up. The Mets took a 4-1 lead.
"You have to make that double play in that situation," Pedroia said.
In the fourth, Varitek sent a smash to shortstop. The shot kicked off Martinez, .allowing Drew and Mike Lowell to score as the Red Sox pulled within a run.
Santana, coming off a win in San Francisco that snapped his string of starts .allowing two earned runs or fewer at 13, overcame other defensive miscues, including Wright's error in the first by consecutively striking out David Ortiz and Youkilis, then getting Jason Bay on a fielder's choice.
With Youkilis crowding the plate in the fifth, Santana hit him in the right forearm. Youkilis stared at Santana, who didn't appreciate it. Youkilis insisted he was kidding, maintaining that he just shouted an expletive and, "That hurt." Santana was fuming.
"Two outs. Two strikes. There's no way I'm going to hit anybody intentionally," Santana said. "After I hit him, he just stood there and started looking at me. I don't appreciate that. I play the game the right way. I don't want to hit him. But if you're looking at me like that, you're going to get it back because I'm a gamer, and that's what I'm going to do. I just told him to take his base, and that was about it. But he was still looking at me and talking. And it fires me up."