Tatis's Two Home Runs Power Mets Over Padres

Fernando Tatis homered twice and drove in four runs, giving the Mets' mix-and-match bullpen enough breathing room to close out the San Diego Padres 6-5 last night without injured Billy Wagner.

Mike Pelfrey pitched effectively into the seventh inning to help the Mets end a four-game skid, hours after they put Wagner on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left forearm.

The injury is a major blow to New York as it pursues a playoff spot, even though Wagner has squandered seven of 34 save chances.

Scott Schoeneweis became the first Mets reliever besides Wagner to earn a save this season when he retired Brian Giles on his only pitch. Before the game, Mets manager Jerry Manuel said struggling setup man Aaron Heilman would get the first shot at closing duties in Wagner's absence. It didn't last long.

Handed a four-run cushion when he entered to start the ninth, Heilman walked his first batter on four pitches and gave up a three-run homer to Jody Gerut with one out.

At that point, Manuel had seen enough. He popped out of the dugout to lift Heilman, booed loudly by the crowd of 52,130.

Joe Smith retired Tadahito Iguchi on a foul popup, and Manuel brought in Schoeneweis to face Giles in a lefty-on-lefty matchup. Giles' well-hit drive to center was caught by Carlos Beltran, securing Schoeneweis' ninth major league save.

San Diego gave the Mets what turned out to be an important insurance run in the eighth when Gerut's throwing error from center made it 6-2.

With the Mets back home following a 1-5 road trip that knocked them out of first place in the NL East, Pelfrey held the punchless Padres in check on nine hits through 6.2 innings.

The right-hander allowed solo homers to Kevin Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez before Pedro Feliciano worked 1.1 perfect innings.

Pelfrey (10-7) won for the eighth time in nine decisions. His seven-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday at Florida, his first loss in 12 starts since May 26 against the Marlins.