Reyes Homer Lifts Mets Over Phillies
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Jose Reyes’s three-run homer snapped a sixth-inning tie and the Mets, with closer Billy Wagner back, rebounded from a demoralizing defeat by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 6–3 on last night.
John Maine pitched seven effective innings and New York took advantage of a wild Brett Myers in his return from the minors to again tie the Phillies for first place in the NL East.
The Mets had a great chance to take sole possession of the division lead in the series opener Tuesday night, but their makeshift bullpen — missing an ailing Wagner — blew a three-run lead for Johan Santana in the ninth inning of an 8-6 loss.
Wagner declared himself available Wednesday after testing his sore left shoulder before the game by playing long toss from about 250 feet and throwing off a bullpen mound.
The All-Star entered in the ninth and got three quick outs for his 25th save in 31 chances, securing New York’s eighth victory in nine home games.
The series finale is today, with Jamie Moyer pitching for the Phillies against Oliver Perez.
With the score tied 3-all, Damion Easley opened the sixth with the second of his three infield singles before Brian Schneider also singled against Ryan Madson (2–1). Maine struck out trying to bunt, but Reyes drove Madson’s next pitch to right for his 11th homer. He raised his right index finger high as he trotted from first to second.
Maine (9–7) gave up consecutive homers to Shane Victorino and Geoff Jenkins in the second, but kept Philadelphia in check most of the way. Jimmy Rollins tied it at 3 with an RBI double in the fifth.
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Mike Mussina walked off the Yankee Stadium mound yesterday to rousing “Mooose!” calls from the sold-out crowd, having thrown eight economical innings in New York’s 5–1 win over the Minnesota Twins for their 10th straight home victory. Alex Rodriguez and Justin Christian each had two-run doubles and Richie Sexson had a sacrifice fly and 11 putouts and three assists at first base as the Yankees completed a 6–0, post-break homestand with sweeps of Oakland and the Twins.
The Yankees will try to continue the stellar play on the road, taking their mediocre 23–23 road record into Fenway Park in Boston for three games starting Friday.
The Twins did not get a runner past second base against Mussina (13–6) in losing their fourth straight game and dropping 2.5 games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.
“It was a disappointing ballgame. I don’t know how to describe it,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Our trip here was not very good. We played terrible baseball pretty much all the way through it.”
The 39-year-old Mussina retired 14 of the first 17 batters and, for the third straight start, didn’t walk a batter. He has given up just five runs in his past five starts and now has 263 career wins.
LaTroy Hawkins gave up three hits, including Mike Lamb’s RBI single in the ninth, before giving way to Mariano Rivera. The closer struck out pinch-hitter Jason Kubel with runners on second and third for his 25th save.
The 10-game winning streak at home is the Yankees’ longest since September 9, 1998, to April 14, 1999. The last time New York won 10 in a row at Yankee Stadium in a single season was July 26-August 14, 1998.
A big part of New York’s recent success is the re-emergence of Robinson Cano, who went 2-for-4 and was in the middle of yet another Yankees scoring opportunity.
Hitting .560 since working on his swing with his father in the Dominican Republic during the All-Star break, Cano singled in the fifth and scored on Christian’s two-run double down the leftfield line to give New York a 2–0 lead.
Christian got a turn to bat in the inning because Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla lost track of the outs, and instead of trying to turn two with the slow-footed Jose Molina running to first he just got the force.
Perkins gave up a double off the left-center wall to Rodriguez in the sixth that scored Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu, who ran through third base coach Bobby Meacham’s stop sign, and slid in just ahead of the relay that catcher Mike Redmond could not handle.
Rodriguez advanced on the throw and Sexson followed with his sacrifice fly to make it 5–0.
It was his defense that earned Sexson the most praise. He made several tough plays.
“Obviously when you’re 6-foot-12, you’re going to get a lot of balls,” Mussina said.