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Lopez's career night carries Nationals past Mets

Apr 25, 2008 - 4:01 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Coming out of spring training, Felipe Lopez was a player with no position. He isn't now.

Lopez tied a career high with six RBI, including a sixth-inning grand slam, to power the Washington Nationals to a 10-5 win over the New York Mets on Thursday.

Lopez's first home run of the season helped Washington to just its fourth victory in the past 20 games, but he had to wait a while to get a chance to contribute.

Lopez played regularly at shortstop last season due to an injury to Cristian Guzman. However, he failed to beat out Guzman or second baseman Ronnie Belliard for a starting position this spring.

"He gave us a big win that we needed," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "He has shown us he's ready to play. He didn't get the job, but still he went out there to help us."

Belliard began the season at second, but Lopez has started the last eight games at the position and is hitting .375 (12-for-32).

"What does that matter? I'm playing now," Lopez said of his inability to start right away.

Johnny Estrada, Wil Nieves and Guzman added RBI singles in the seventh for Washington, which entered as the worst hitting team in baseball (.227).

"We're not as bad as what we've hit," Acta said.

The Nationals fell behind, 3-0, but scored three runs in the fifth off Oliver Perez and four more in the sixth on Lopez's fourth career grand slam.

"It feels good to do it," Lopez said. "We're getting comfortable. Wins like this get the energy back up."

Michael O'Connor (1-0), who was recalled from Class AAA Columbus earlier Thursday, threw a scoreless sixth for Washington to pick up the win.

With the game tied at 3-3, Aaron Heilman relieved Perez (2-1) with runners on second and third. Heilman walked former Mets prospect Lastings Milledge and Lopez blasted a 3-2 changeup over the right field wall for a 7-3 lead.

"(Heilman) couldn't put Milledge away and he threw Lopez a ball up in the zone," Mets manager Willie Randolph said.

Carlos Beltran cut the deficit to 7-4 with his second home run of the season in the seventh, but Washington tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the inning.

Pinch hitter Marlon Anderson led off the ninth with a homer off Jon Rauch, but the Mets could not rally.

"It was just a sloppy game, we couldn't make our pitches," New York's David Wright said. "We couldn't keep a big inning alive. When they scored runs, they scored them in bunches."

New York opened the scoring in the third as Luis Castillo plated Raul Casanova with a single to center. Perez made it 2-0 in the fourth with a base hit that scored Ryan Church, who added an RBI single an inning later.

However, the Mets' bullpen could not hold the three-run lead, as the Nationals tied the game in the fifth thanks to a two-run single by Lopez and an RBI groundout by Ryan Zimmerman.

Perez allowed five runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings. His counterpart, Shawn Hill, yielded three runs - two earned - and six hits in five frames.