Wright’s Homer Lifts Mets To Win Over Marlins
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David Wright hit a go-ahead threerun homer in the eighth inning to help the Mets beat the Florida Marlins 7–6 yeterday.
The first-place Mets reached the All-Star break with a 53–38 record and led the NL East by 12 games. Xavier Nady also hit a two-run homer for New York.
Joe Borchard went 2-for-3 and scored twice for the Marlins, who scored three runs in the seventh to take a 5–3 lead. Florida is 27–17 since May 22 after starting the season 11–31.
Wright hit his 20th homer to give the Mets the lead against Logan Kensing (1–2).
Pedro Feliciano (2–2) pitched one scoreless inning to get the win, and Billy Wagner allowed Miguel Olivo’s oneout solo homer in the ninth before finishing for his 18th save.
Tom Glavine, trying to become the major league’s first 12-game winner, had a 3–0 lead after five innings but the Marlins came back.
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DEVIL RAYS 6, YANKEES 5 In St. Petersburg, Fla., Jorge Cantu and Aubrey Huff homered and drove in three runs apiece yesterday, helping the Tampa Bay Devil Rays rally from a five-run deficit to beat the Yankees 6–5.
Cantu’s two-run homer off Ron Villone erased a 5–3 New York lead in the fifth inning. Cantu broke the tie in the seventh when he singled after Rocco Baldelli doubled and Scott Proctor (2–2) walked Huff intentionally.
Baldelli set the stage for Cantu’s big hit with a perfect throw from center field in the seventh to cut down Melky Cabrera trying to score from second base on Bernie Williams’s two-out single off Tim Corcoran (4?0).
Brian Meadows pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
The Yankees took a 5–0 lead on Jason Giambi’s 11th career grand slam and an error that allowed a fifth run to score against Tampa Bay starter Casey Fossum in the third. New York was denied a sweep of the three-game series.
It was a major league-high 18th time the Yankees have scored five or more runs in an inning this season.
“It’s frustrating,” Alex Rodriguez, who was 0-for-11 in the series with five strikeouts, said. “We thought it had the potential to be a blowout. We didn’t add more runs to the board.”
