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Church, Maine power Mets past Nationals

May 14, 2008 - 2:57 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - With ample help from Ryan Church, John Maine again played stopper for the New York Mets.

Maine pitched six strong innings to win his fourth straight start and Church homered, doubled and drove in four runs as the Mets defeated the Washington Nationals, 6-3, on Tuesday.

Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer for the Nationals, who lost for the sixth time in their last eight games.

Maine (5-2) allowed just two runs and two hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Each of Maine's last four wins have followed New York defeats and he has remained the model the consistency, allowing two runs or less in each of his last seven outings.

It is the longest such streak by a Mets starter since Masato Yoshii did it in his final eight outings in 1999.

"He's getting better and better each time out," Mets manager Willie Randolph said of Maine. "He's becoming more reliable for us."

The only problem for Maine was a pitch count that reached 109 pitches by six innings.

"They fouled off a lot of pitches," Maine said. "It wasn't easy. I thought I did a good job of locating pitches."

Another of the Mets' consistent performers has been Church, acquired from the Nationals in the offseason. Church hit his eighth homer of the season to lead off the second, broke a tie with a two-run double in the sixth and added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

"I'm happy with where I'm at," Church said. "I'm just sticking with what works. I sat on off-speed pitches all night."

Brian Schneider, who had three hits, singled off John Lannan (3-4) with one out in the sixth and went to second on another single by pinch hitter Fernando Tatis, who was called up from the minors as part of a series of roster moves earlier in the day. One out later, Church hit a hard line drive to right fielder Austin Kearns, who took a step in before the ball sailed over his head for a double.

"I hit it good. I think it got out there quicker than he thought," said Church, who raised his average to .324. Eleven of Church's last 17 hits have been for extra bases.

"We all know he's talented," said former teammate Zimmerman. "He's getting a chance to play everyday."

Lannan, a native of nearby Long Beach, New York, was brilliant in his last outing at Shea Stadium, striking out 11 over six innings on April 17. The lefthander came back to Earth on Tuesday, allowing four runs and 12 hits in six innings.

"I was having a tough time keeping the ball down," Lannan said. "Every time Church was up, I was leaving the ball up in the zone."

Matt Wise, activated off the disabled list earlier in the day, allowed an RBI groundout to Rob Mackowiak in the eighth. Duaner Sanchez worked around a pair of walks in the eighth and Billy Wagner pitched the ninth for his eighth save in nine chances.

Jose Reyes added an RBI single in the two-run eighth for New York, which banged out 14 hits.

Zimmerman broke out of a 2-for-17 slump by hitting a two-run homer in the top of the second to score Cristian Guzman, who had reached on one of two errors by second baseman Damion Easley.