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Sosa, Mets end losing skid, shut down Tigers

Jun 9, 2007 - 3:59 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- To avoid their longest losing streak in nearly two years, the New York Mets turned to Jorge Sosa.

Sosa pitched eight outstanding innings and David Wright homered as the Mets beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-0, in interleague play Friday.

Carlos Delgado homered and drove in two runs for New York, which snapped a four-game losing streak.

"It was good to get the win," Delgado said. "You have to put the losing streak behind you and play good baseball. Then it will get better again."

The win prevented the Mets from suffering their longest slide since dropping six in a row from September 5-10, 2005.

"Sosa was just outstanding," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "He was aggressive out there and kept good rhythm. He helped us stop the bleeding."

Sosa (6-1) was brilliant, allowing singles in the first, second and sixth innings before surrendering a two-out double to Placido Polanco in the eighth.

"I threw my breaking ball tonight," Sosa said through an interpreter. "I was in the American League and knew that I could get the hitter out with the change rather than my fastball."

The 30-year old walked two and struck out five to win his third consecutive game and become the first New York Mets pitcher all-time to earn six victories in his first seven starts.

"I did nothing tonight that I haven't done before," Sosa added. "I executed my pitches and kept good rhythm."

Billy Wagner pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 14th save in 15 opportunities.

"I threw strikes, got ahead of the hitters and put the ball in and out of the zone," Wagner said. "This was a big win for us."

Wright gave New York the lead when he hammered an 0-1 pitch from Detroit starter Chad Durbin over the right field wall to give the Mets a 1-0 lead in the fourth. It was his 10th homer of the season and extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

"I hit a fastball out," Wright said. "Durbin had good stuff all night, we were lucky to hit a couple of his mistakes."

Delgado led off the sixth by hitting the first pitch he saw from Durbin into the seats in right field to make it 2-0. He later added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to complete the scoring.

Durbin (5-2) allowed three runs, six hits and a walk to lose for the first time in his last six decisions.

"I made a couple mistakes to a good-hitting ball club," Durbin said. "Sometimes those pitches get popped up, and sometimes they get hit."

The Tigers, who came into this contest leading the majors with a .290 batting average, were shut out for the first time in 2007.

"We hit a couple balls hard in the first inning, but we didn't get anything out of it." Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "He (Sosa) shut us down the rest of the way."