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Beltran's blast ends Mets' skid

Jun 12, 2008 - 5:03 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Carlos Beltran had endured five sleepless nights. A sixth might have been crushing for him and the rest of the New York Mets.

Beltran belted a two-run homer in the 13th inning as the Mets halted a five-game losing streak Wednesday with a dramatic 5-3 triumph over the Arizona Diamondbacks

With two outs, Beltran launched a 1-2 offering from righthander Edgar Gonzalez (1-3) over the wall in right-center field for his seventh blast of the season and fifth career walk-off homer. The shot came two batters after Luis Castillo reached on an error by third baseman Mark Reynolds.

"Fastball, up and in the middle of the plate," Beltran said. "I was planning on hitting the ball back up the middle, and that was the plan that I had. I just react to it.

"As soon as I hit it, I wasn't sure it was going to be gone because it was in the line. But it went out, so we're happy because of the win."

It was Beltran's first walk-off home run since he connected off St. Louis Cardinals closer Jason Isringhausen on August 22, 2006 during New York's run to the National League East Division crown.

The Mets are not near first place this season due to their inconsistent play and a pair of five-game losing streaks that have occurred following decent stretches. The latest skid came after New York won seven of nine following manager Willie Randolph's meeting with team ownership on May 27.

"It wasn't pretty," Randolph said of Wednesday's win. "But struggling the way we have, we'll take it, and hopefully it will kick-start us and get us going."

The most recent skid featured three 2-1 defeats to San Diego in which New York left numerous runners on base and an 8-6 loss on Sunday, when closer Billy Wagner gave up an eighth-inning home run by Tony Clark.

It continued in the series opener against the Diamondbacks as the Mets squandered a four-run lead and gave up three home runs in the late innings en route to a 9-5 loss.

"For me, every time we lost, and there's a lot of guys here that when we lost, we don't sleep at night well," Beltran said. "So today, I'm going to sleep good, and hopefully tomorrow we can come here and win again.

"That's what we talk about. This is what we do for a living. How come you're going to sleep when things are not going good? You think about it. You go home, you think about the game and how we can get better. I think there's a lot of people here that care."

Beltran's homer, which capped the nearly four-hour contest and gave the Mets their seventh win in their final at-bat this season, also helped New York avoid a devastating sixth straight loss. After tossing a brilliant eight innings, starter Mike Pelfrey was lifted after surrendering a leadoff single by Stephen Drew in the ninth.

Wagner came on and struck out Orlando Hudson and Chad Tracy around a double by Conor Jackson, but Reynolds deposited a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall, tying the game at 3-3 and handing the lefthander his fourth blown save of the campaign.

"I was trying to throw a ball away," Wagner said. "I left it in the middle of the plate. He's got a lot of pop, and that's not surprising."

"I hadn't come close to hitting anything all night," said Reynolds, who struck out in his other four at-bats. "He threw me a fastball and I was lucky enough to get a good swing."

Reynolds' homer, his fourth in as many games, kept Pelfrey from notching his first victory since April 15. The righthander, who has lost six straight decisions, yielded just one run, five hits and two walks while

striking out a career-high eight in the longest outing in the major leagues.

"It's very disappointing Pelfrey said. "They're down to their last strike and you got one of the best closers ever to play the game on the mound. He's been good all year and that stuff is going to happen every once in a while, and it happened tonight."

While the home run soured the mood in the crowd, the Diamondbacks thought they had momentum and were on their way to their 12th comeback win of the season.

"You think the momentum is in our dugout going into extra innings," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "Obviously, it didn't work out that way."

Pedro Feliciano pitched a hitless 10th, Aaron Heilman struck out three in two innings and Claudio Vargas (3-2) worked around two hits in the 13th.

The Diamondbacks had runners at first and second in the 13th as Drew and Hudson hit consecutive one-out singles. Vargas worked out of the jam by getting Jackson to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

Beltran gave the Mets the lead with a two-run single in the fourth and scored on Marlon Anderson's grounder later in the inning for a 3-0 bulge.

Hudson collected three hits for the Diamondbacks, who have lost 11 of their last 16.

Arizona ace Brandon Webb lasted just five innings, his second-shortest outing of the season. The righthander, who had allowed just one earned run in his previous three starts in New York, yielded three runs and five hits in this one.

Webb, who threw 58 pitches, was pulled an inning after Carlos Delgado's line-drive single hit him on the right hip.