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Maine, Church key another Mets win in desert

May 3, 2008 - 5:54 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The New York Mets were not intimidated by the Arizona Diamondbacks' hot start. Not in a place where they've had so much success.

John Maine threw six effective innings and Ryan Church homered and drove three runs as the Mets posted a 7-2 victory over the Diamondbacks on Friday.

Jose Reyes finished a home run shy of the cycle and David Wright blasted a two-run shot as the Mets pounded the Diamondbacks, who entered with the best record in baseball.

New York, which has won 14 of the last 15 visits here, battered Arizona starter Micah Owings (4-1) from the start. Reyes set the tone early as he sparked a three-run first inning by hitting Owings' first offering into right field for a triple.

"It set the tone," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Every club, they feed off their leadoff guy, especially when you have the energy that Jose has."

"There are horses for courses. Obviously, they feel good about playing here," said Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin on the eve of the Kentucky Derby. "They swing the bats well here. They got off to a good start. A lot of times you come from the East, it's a little bit cold, the ball's not carrying. You get to a ballpark like ours, where it's controlled atmosphere, the ball carries. They seem to see the ball pretty well here."

Church lifted a sacrifice fly, while Carlos Delgado and newly activated Moises Alou added RBI singles in the frame. Alou missed the first 26 contests of the season while recovering from hernia surgery.

Arizona cut the deficit to 4-2 in the second as Miguel Montero delivered an RBI double and Chris Young hit a run-scoring single.

Maine (3-2) labored through six innings, allowing two runs and six hits. The righthander struck out six and walked two while throwing 68 of his 107 pitches for strikes.

Maine believed he was roughed up a bit in the second because he was relying on his fastball too much.

"I feel really good," Maine said. "My slider the last couple of games has really come along. I just got to learn, each game you have to make adjustments to the hitters and the way they are approaching you."

The Mets started to pull away slowly as Church, who laced an RBI double to right in the second, added a solo home run in the fourth to make it 5-2. Wright stretched the lead to five with a two-run homer to left in the sixth.

Owings' night ended when he walked Carlos Beltran following Wright's blast. The righthander allowed season highs of seven runs and 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

"I wasn't too sharp, didn't go into the game feeling 100 percent," said Owings, who is dealing with an ankle injury. "But had to keep battling, and the guys behind me, too, just battled the whole night. You have just got to tip your hat to the Mets, they were on tonight."

Reyes provided an exciting moment in the seventh.

Needing just a homer for the cycle, Reyes drilled a ball to dead center that hit off the glove of Young. The speedster raced around third but was out by a wide margin in his bid for the inside-the-parker.

"When I hit the ball, I don't think I'm going to go to home plate," Reyes said. "But as soon as I saw (third base coach) Sandy Alomar send me home, I say put your head down and go. They make a perfect throw to home plate, so they throw me out by far."