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Brewers spoil Santana's home debut

Apr 12, 2008 - 9:14 PM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - The battle of marquee pitchers went to Ben Sheets.

Sheets pitched 7 2/3 strong innings to spoil Johan Santana's first Shea Stadium start for the New York Mets as the Milwaukee Brewers hit three homers and went on to a 5-3 victory on Saturday.

Sheets (2-0) had worked 15 2/3 scoreless frames in his first two outings, but promptly allowed a pair of runs in the first. The righthander then settled down after the Mets loaded the bases in the second, retiring 18 straight batters before tiring in the eighth.

"I've had (crappy) first innings plenty of time and pitched a good game," said Sheets, who threw far more changeups than he would in an average start. "I threw a good one and got an out and kept throwing it. I was in a good grove."

That spoiled the highly anticipated home debut for Santana (1-2), who joined the Mets in a blockbuster trade with the Minnesota Twins in February. The two-time Cy Young Award winner allowed solo home runs to Bill Hall and Rickie Weeks and a two-run blast to Gabe Kapler that gave the Brewers a 5-2 lead.

"He pitched good and I didn't," Santana said. "He was better than me. We made a couple of mistakes with pitches that didn't do what we wanted them to do."

Santana was charged with five runs - four earned - and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. It was the ninth time that Santana has allowed three or more home runs in a game and the first since September 21 of last season. When he was removed from the game, some boos greeted him on the way to the dugout.

"I know a lot of people are expecting good things from me," Santana said. "It's all about the results."

Sheets allowed three runs and five hits, including a home run to David Wright in the eighth.

Brian Shouse recorded the final out of the eighth and Eric Gagne pitched the ninth for his second save.

"We've faced Santana before," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "We don't (see this) as a confidence booster. We're a good team."

The Mets played without shortstop Jose Reyes, who sat out with a mild strain of the left hamstring and is listed as day-to-day.

The long afternoon for the Mets included a pair of errors by third baseman Wright, who has three in his last two games. The 2007 Gold Glove winner was charged with an error in back-to-back games for the first time since September 2006.

Hall hit a leadoff home run in the fourth and Weeks connected with one out in the fifth to give the Brewers a 3-2 lead.

Kapler, who sat out last season to manage in the minor leagues, hit his third homer of the season in the seventh, connecting to score Weeks, who had walked.

"He's arguably the best left-handed pitcher in the game," Kapler said of Santana. "It's battle mode from the very beginning."

The Mets scored in the first on the sacrifice fly by Wright and an RBI double off the center field wall by Carlos Delgado. New York loaded the bases in the second before Wright grounded out.

"You can't pass on opportunities when you get quality pitchers on the ropes," Mets manager Willie Randolph said.