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Tatis homers twice as Mets survive scare in ninth

Aug 6, 2008 - 3:23 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Two significant home runs by Fernando Tatis gave the New York Mets an opportunity to see how their first ninth inning without Billy Wagner would look. The results were a little ugly but, in the end, positive.

Tatis homered twice as the Mets overcame a shaky ninth and held off the San Diego Padres, 6-5, in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night.

Mike Pelfrey (10-7) pitched 6 2/3 innings for his eighth win in nine decisions. He allowed solo home runs to Kevin Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez among nine hits.

The Mets avoided equaling their longest losing streak of the season and won for the 12th time in their last 14 home games but barely did so.

"It's big," Tatis said. "This game is big for everyone. Winning this game is big for everyone here."

Rookie Daniel Murphy added an RBI double and Carlos Beltran scored on a pair of throwing errors in the eighth. The final run would prove to be the decisive one when Aaron Heilman was unable to finish the ninth.

Hours after placing closer Billy Wagner on the disabled list with a strained left forearm, Heilman came on after Pedro Feliciano pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings, and it was a struggle from the outset of his outing.

Heilman issued a leadoff walk to Nick Hundley and a base hit to Luis Rodriguez, who reached when Beltran was unable to make a sliding catch. After getting the first out, Jody Gerut sent a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field wall and manager Jerry Manuel pulled Heilman.

"It's certainly frustrating," Heilman said. "You don't want to give anyone a free pass, especially when you have a lead like that."

It was the the ninth home run allowed by Heilman in 59 appearances this season, surpassing his figure from last year when he appeared in 81 games. The home run was not the most troubling aspect of the inning for Manuel, who was disappointed more with the leadoff walk.

"If we'd have played a little defense, he'd be out of it," Manuel said referring to Rodriguez's hit and the failure to turn a double-play. "The walk bothers me, that's not a good indication."

Joe Smith recorded the second out, getting Tadahito Iguchi on a foul out. Lefthander Scott Schoeneweis entered to face Brian Giles and needed just one pitch to notch the save.

It was Schoeneweis' first save since September 23 at Florida and ninth career.

"Me getting the save is about as big a highlight as me eating the 1,000th cheesesteak served in the visiting clubhouse in Philadelphia,"

Schoeneweis said. "That's about where it ranks, right guy at the right place."

The near-comeback sent San Diego to its first loss in five tries against the Mets. The Padres also lost for the fifth time in six games but felt good about the ninth.

"It's probably a good thing that we continue to show life in the second half of the game," Gerut said. "The Mets are a good team. At the end, you just want to be in a position to win a ballgame."

New York had just one hit off Chris Young through 5 1/3 innings, but it was Tatis' solo home run in the fourth. They had just five more the rest of the night, but their third hit was Tatis' three-run shot in the sixth off reliever Mike Adams (1-1).

Tatis hit his 100th career home run and also posted his first multi-home run game since September 16, 2000, against the Chicago Cubs when he was with the St. Louis Cardinals.

It also was the eighth career multi-home run game for Tatis, giving him nine since joining the Mets on May 13. Of those home runs, six have either tied a game or put the Mets in front and, after his second one stayed inside the foul pole, Tatis had the crowd chanting his name and asking for a curtain call.

"It's amazing," Tatis said. "It's unbelievable to hear my name at Shea."

Young made his second start since returning from the disabled list last week, allowing two runs and one hit but also walked five in 5 1/3 innings.

"My movement was a little off," Young said. "It's my second start in almost two months and certainly I'm lucky to be out there."

Young's night ended after he issued a one-out walk to Carlos Delgado. Adams gave up a base hit to Beltran and, moments later, Tatis sent a 2-2 slider over the left field wall.

The Mets tacked on two in the late innings when Murphy had an RBI double in the seventh. New York capped the scoring when Beltran scored on throwing errors by Gerut in center field and Rodriguez at short.