Marlins Complete 4-Game Sweep of Mets
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Carl Pavano moved into a tie for the NL lead with his 16th win, helping the Florida Marlins gain ground in the wild-card chase with a 9-6 win yester day over the Mets.
Rookie third baseman David Wright homered twice for the free-falling Mets, who have lost six straight and 11 of 12,ending their homestand at 1-10. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the Mets’ worst homestand of 10 or more games since their first season in 1962.
Juan Pierre and Juan Encarnacion each drove in three runs for the Marlins, who swept the four-game series and have won six in a row overall.
Pavano (16-5) allowed four runs and eight hits while striking out six. Guillermo Mota pitched two hitless innings of relief, and Josias Manzanillo finished up.
Pavano is tied with Houston’s Roy Oswalt, but has a better record than Oswalt’s 16-9. Mark Mulder of Oakland and Curt Schilling of Boston both have 17 wins.
Wright hit a three-run homer off Pavano with two outs in the fourth and a solo shot off Manzanillo in the ninth for his first career multihomer game.
The Marlins are 2 1 /2 games behind Chicago for the wild card spot. San Francisco and San Diego also stand between the defending World Series champions and their third postseason appearance.
Florida scored four runs in the sec ond, on an RBI double by Encarnacion and a two-run single by Pierre, plus an error by catcher Jason Phillips.
Pierre singled to right, scoring Mike Lowell, and Encarnacion was waved in behind him. Richard Hidalgo’s throw from right might have beaten him, but he scored easily when it squirted through Phillips’s legs. Pitcher Jae Seo and Phillips both started after the ball, and Gonzalez also came home as the crowd of 24,937 jeered.
Wilson Delgado and Mike Piazza struck out to start the fourth before Cliff Floyd doubled and Hidalgo walked ahead of Wright’s drive to right.
Seo (4-8) was lifted after throwing 93 pitches in five innings. He allowed five runs – four earned – on seven hits and three walks.
Delgado’s RBI single in the fifth brought the Mets within a run. But the Marlins scored four more runs in the eighth on Encarnacion’s two-run homer and a two-run double by Damion Easley.
Pinch-hitter Todd Zeile also homered off Manzanillo in the ninth.
