Mets quieted by Duke
PITTSBURGH — National League hitters often use Pirates left-hander Zach Duke like an in-game batting practice machine, pumping up their average and their confidence.
As usual, the New York Mets are not among them.
Duke limited the Mets to one run over seven innings and Jose Tabata and Lastings Milledge homered, allowing Pittsburgh to salvage the final game of the three-game series by beating New York 2-1 on Sunday.
"I really felt from the first inning on my location was good with all my pitches and I was able to mix them up," Duke said. "The fact that I was able to bounce back after the run in the first inning really got the momentum in our favor. Then those two home runs were just huge for us."
Duke, a loser of eight of his previous 11 starts, struck out five and walked two to win for only the third time in 13 starts since May 18. He came into the game allowing 157 hits in 120 innings, with an opponents batting average of .321 that was higher than the averages of numerous Hall of Famers.
For some reason, the Mets can't figure out a pitcher that many NL hitters can't wait to face. Duke (6-12) is 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA against them in seven career starts. By failing to beat him again, they wasted another excellent start by Johan Santana.
"He kept us off balance and threw his curveball for strikes," the Mets' Jeff Francoeur said. "When I faced him in the past, he's had trouble doing that. He threw his curveball well, which made his fastball that much better."
The Mets got off to a good start by scoring on Carlos Beltran's sacrifice fly in the first after leadoff batter Jose Reyes singled, moved to second on catcher Ryan Doumit's throwing error and stole third. But they had only three singles off the left-hander over the next six innings.
The Pirates, trying to dodge their first 100-loss season since 2001, had lost five in a row and 12 of 13 to fall 43 games below .500 at 40-83.
Santana (10-8) didn't allow a hit until Pedro Alvarez's leadoff single in the fifth, but, after a double play, Milledge homered to center — his fourth of the season and first in 103 at-bats. Milledge started for only the second time in seven games despite having a .303 average in his last 47 games.
Tabata, one of three rookies in the Pirates lineup, hit the third homer of his career with two outs in the sixth to make it 2-1.
"It seems like everything was working out pretty good, but a couple of pitches, a couple of mistakes, changed the ballgame," Santana said. "A couple of changeups that stayed flat over the middle of the plate."
Santana went the distance for New York, giving up only two other hits over eight innings while striking out nine and walking one. The Pirates won despite being held to two runs or fewer for the ninth time in 10 games.
