Peavy Sharp As Padres Top Mets

Jake Peavy slowed down the Mets — if not Jose Reyes — by striking out 11 and pitching the San Diego Padres to a 7–5 victory last night.

Hours after major league ERA leader Chris Young returned to San Diego because of a bad back, Peavy (14–5) delivered the big performance the NL wild-card leaders needed.

The All-Star righty limited the Mets to two hits over six innings. Trevor Hoffman got two outs for his 32nd save in 36 chances, following his ninth-inning meltdown the previous night in a 7–6 loss.

Hoffman's 514th career save came with a little excitement as the Mets scored three times in the ninth. Second baseman Geoff Blum dropped David Wright's popup but managed to get a forceout and, after Carlos Beltran hit an RBI single, Carlos Delgado struck out to end it.

Delgado's bat slipped out of his hands on the final pitch and went helicoptering back toward Hoffman, who managed to avoid getting hit.

Reyes did his best to rattle the Padres, stealing three bases and setting a Mets record with 67 in a season. The NL East leaders swiped five in all, yet saw their four-game winning streak come to an end.

Seven times this year the Mets have won four in a row; once again, they failed to make it five.

The Mets set a franchise record by scoring at least five runs for the 10th straight game. Jeff Conine, in his first at-bat since being traded from Cincinnati to the Mets, had a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth.

Peavy earned his fifth straight win, improved to 8–0 on the road and increased his league-high strikeout total to 186.

About the only thing Peavy didn't do was take over the ERA lead from Young. At 2.21, Peavy trails his teammate's 2.12.

Khalil Greene drove in three runs for the Padres and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a pair of RBI doubles.

Brian Lawrence (1–1) fell behind early against a familiar team. He started on opening day for the Padres in 2003 and 2004.

Reyes, who earlier stole second and third to tie the mark Roger Cedeno set in 1999, then teamed up with Wright on a double steal. Beltran hit a two-run double that made it 4–2.