Last-Place Padres Strike Early And Top Martinez, Mets

Jody Gerut hit Pedro Martinez's first pitch for a home run and Mets third baseman David Wright committed a costly error, helping the San Diego Padres beat New York 4-2 last night.

Cha Seung Baek baffled the Mets again, allowing two runs and eight hits in 6.1 innings. The right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in two starts against New York this season.

Brian Giles and Chase Headley also homered for the last-place Padres, who improved to 5-1 against the Mets this year.

Daniel Murphy had three hits for New York in his fourth big league game, including his first career triple. His fifth-inning single drove in Jose Reyes and tied it at 2, but Wright was doubled off first base on Carlos Beltran's flyout to end the inning.

Martinez (3-3) settled down after allowing first-inning homers to Gerut and Giles, and left with runners at second and third and one out in the seventh. Pedro Feliciano struck out Gerut and walked Edgar Gonzalez before Giles cued a grounder toward third.

Wright was in front of the spinning bouncer before it skipped by him and into left field for an error. Luis Rodriguez scored easily to give San Diego a 3-2 lead.

Murphy and Wright hit one-out singles in the bottom half to chase Baek (4-5) but Mike Adams retired Carlos Delgado on a fly ball to the warning track in left and got Beltran to bounce out to end the inning.

New York left at least one runner on in the first eight innings and stranded 10 runners total, dropping to 12-3 in its last 15 games at Shea Stadium.

Headley homered off rookie Eddie Kunz in the eighth to give San Diego some breathing room, and Heath Bell shut out his former team in the bottom half. Trevor Hoffman worked a perfect ninth for career save No. 548, and his 24th in 27 opportunities this season.

Gerut connected in the first for his third leadoff homer of the season, and his second drive of the series. He hit a three-run shot in the ninth inning of San Diego's 6-5 loss Tuesday night.

Gerut, back in baseball after missing the last two seasons with an injured right knee, is batting .375 (15-for-40) with four homers and eight RBIs in his last 11 games.