Pirates rally, come up short
PITTSBURGH — Five runs in the first inning, five more in the ninth. Such a night usually adds up to an easy victory. This one was anything but simple for the New York Mets.
Moises Alou hit a two-run homer in New York's big first inning, and the Mets held off Pittsburgh's ninth-inning rally for a 10-8 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday night.
"Every time we play here it's interesting and adventurous," said manager Willie Randolph, whose team's NL East title clinching was delayed last season by a three-game sweep here last September. "We had a couple of heartbreaks here last year and tonight looked like we might be set up for another one, but we prevailed."
David Wright hit a two-run double ahead of Alou's third homer in three games as the Mets roughed up Matt Morris for five hits and stole three bases while taking the 5-0 lead. Jose Reyes singled and Luis Castillo walked ahead of Wright's double, and Carlos Delgado doubled before Alou hit Morris' first pitch into the left-field bleachers for his eighth homer.
In his previous at-bat on Tuesday, Alou's two-run single in the eighth inning proved the difference in the Mets' 5-4 victory. The 41-year-old Alou is 7-for-13 with nine RBIs during the Mets' three-game winning streak and is 17-for-46 (.370) with six homers and 14 RBIs in his last 12 games. He is a .318 career hitter with 27 homers against the Pirates.
"From the way it started, we thought it was going to be a very different game," Alou said. "Then they shut us down the next seven innings and made it close. Even in their last at-bat, they made it tough on us."
The Pirates trailed 5-4 going into the ninth, but reliever Shawn Chacon's throwing error as he tried to get Lastings Milledge at third base on Castillo's single to the mound led to another big inning that put the Mets up 10-4.
"If we make that play, it's a completely different ninth inning," Pirates manager Jim Tracy said.
After Milledge scored on the errant throw, the next five Mets got hits. Carlos Beltran hit a two-run double off Damaso Marte and pinch-hitter Damion Easley followed with an RBI double ahead of Alou's run-scoring single.
But Pittsburgh came back with four runs in the bottom of the ninth against reliever Aaron Sele as Jason Bay hit a two-run double to end an 0-for-13 slump. Billy Wagner got the final two outs for his 28th save in 30 opportunities, but only after Jose Bautista hit a long fly ball to center that nearly left the park and Jose Castillo singled in a run.
On the mound, Wagner couldn't help remember how he couldn't get the final out as the Pirates scored seven runs with two outs in the ninth inning of a 2001 game at PNC Park to beat his Houston Astros 9-8.
