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Alou continues hot streak, Mets survive late scare

Aug 16, 2007 - 3:42 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - Moises Alou likes to think he is just one of many that helps the New York Mets' offense produce runs. Against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, they needed every last one of them.

Alou hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs and Carlos Delgado had two hits and an RBI as the Mets used a pair of five-run innings to hang on for a 10-8 victory over the Pirates.

David Wright drove in a pair of runs for the Mets, who held a slim 5-4 lead before Carlos Beltran hit a two-run double and Alou added an RBI single in what turned out be a crucial five-run ninth.

Alou, who hit a go-ahead two-run single in the eighth inning of Tuesday's 5-4 win, has been on fire the last six games and a big reason the Mets have won three straight.

"Everyone's contributing, not just me," Alou said. "We've got different guys every day. That's what good teams do."

The Mets jumped on Pittsburgh starter Matt Morris early with a five-run first inning and then survived a four-run ninth from Pittsburgh.

"The way we started, we thought it would be a different game," Alou said. "But then we shut it down the next seven or eight innings, and they got close. It was a good game until the ninth - and even then we needed those runs."

Wright hit a two-run double, Delgado hit an RBI double and the next batter, Alou, blasted a two-run homer to left field - his eighth of the season - to make the score 5-0.

The 41-year-old Alou, who missed nearly three months with a strained quadriceps muscle, is hitting .369 (17-for-46) with six home runs and 14 RBI in his last 12 games.

On Sunday, he hit a pair of home runs to lift New York (67-52), which leads the Philadelphia Phillies (63-56) by four games in the National League East. The Phillies lost at Washington.

A 10-4 lead in the ninth allowed closer Billy Wagner to sit down but not for long. Aaron Sele allowed three runs in the inning on an RBI groundout by Adam LaRoche and a two-run double by Jason Bay.

Wagner was called upon with one out and got the second out before allowing an RBI single to Jose Castillo. The lefthander then struck out former Met Xavier Nady with the tying run on base to notch his 28th save in 30 chances.

"There was a little bit of everything in that game," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "We got five in the first, five in the ninth - and we tried to give it back to them in between."

"You're never out of the game until you get that last out," Wagner said. "Crazy things can happen, and this was a weird game."

Nate McLouth homered for the second day in a row and Jose Bautista hit his ninth blast of the season for Pittsburgh, which has lost three in a row since having a four-game win streak snapped.

Meanwhile, after a rocky first frame, Morris (7-8) settled down, allowing just two hits in the next five frames.

"The game didn't start well for Matt in the first inning," Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy said. "But to his credit, he bounced back. And what he did through the next five innings is the reason we had the opportunity to get back into the game."

Morris, who was making his third start for the Pirates since being acquired at the trade deadline July 31, allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out four, and remained winless in his last 11 starts. He also delivered an RBI double in the second.

The Pirates clawed back into the game against struggling New York starter John Maine. Bautista's homer - his second in the past three games - got Pittsburgh on the board in the second. McLouth hit a solo shot in the fourth, his seventh, to make it 5-3.

Maine (13-7), who had allowed 12 runs over eight innings during his previous two starts, snapped a personal two-game skid by allowing three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in five innings.

"I felt great today," Maine said. "It's the best I've felt in awhile. I felt I threw all three pitches pretty good. I'm not that disappointed. I think I could have located a little better, but it was tough trying to get them to chase things."

The Pirates pulled to within 5-4 when pinch hitter Matt Kata drove in Jack Wilson with a two-out double in the sixth.

"It was a weird game," Randolph said. "We'll take it and move on, but it's not one you necessarily feel real good about."