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Mets top A's in extras

Jun 23, 2011 - 5:53 AM Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - A game delayed by rain that never really came ended with a breaking ball that grazed Justin Turner's shirt.

After walking Jose Reyes intentionally to load the bases in the 13th inning, Brad Ziegler clipped Turner with a slider, forcing in the winning run, as the New York Mets slipped past Oakland, 3-2, at Citi Field.

"I don't mind taking one, not in that situation. I'll stay in there and stand my ground," Turner said. "Unless it's at my face or around my ankle, I'll stay in there and take a bruise."

The game was delayed one hour, three minutes as the tarp was on the field with expected heavy storms that never really materialized.

Then a pitcher's duel broke out between R.A. Dickey and Gio Gonzalez. Each pitched well enough to win, and Dickey would have if not for Conor Jackson, who singled home the tying run in the top of the ninth. Oakland saw its six- game winning streak come to an end.

Ziegler (2-1) was saddled with the loss, while Bobby Parnell (2-1) picked up the victory with a scoreless frame. The Mets have split their last four games.

"I know the pitch was inside, it got away from me," Ziegler said. "It's just not how you want to end the game. If I'm going to lose I'd rather be beaten with a base hit."

The Mets used three consecutive hits to take the lead in the second. Scott Hairston doubled in front of Ronny Paulino's single. Lucas Duda then drilled one of Gonzalez's few mistakes, driving a fastball that ran back over the plate into right for a run-scoring single.

The A's couldn't figure out Dickey's knuckleball until the fifth as Kurt Suzuki back-legged a high fly ball that just cleared the wall in left to tie the game.

New York went ahead once Gonzalez exited the game. After the A's southpaw struck out four of the last seven batters he faced, the Mets welcomed a new hurler, Joey Devine, on the mound in the eighth. Reyes drilled a fly ball to right-center field that was deflected by the right fielder Ryan Sweeney and caromed away from him and center fielder Coco Crisp, allowing Reyes to reach third with a triple. He scored on Turner's single to left.

Crisp drove a one-out double off Francisco Rodriguez into the right-field corner in the ninth then came around to score on Jackson's two-out grounder that found eyes just past the outstretched arms of Turner. Rodriguez blew his second consecutive save for just the second time as a Met with the last coming in August 2009.

The Mets threatened in the 12th frame as Reyes chopped a one-out single to center then two straight walks loaded the bases for Jason Pridie, who grounded out to end the threat.

Game Notes

Coming into the game, Oakland starters had a 5-0 record and a 1.17 earned run average over the last six games...Dickey was solid on the heels of a rough start, as he gave up six runs -- four earned -- in Atlanta, but responded to yield just one run on three hits with nine strikeouts and one walk over eight frames. His counterpart, Gonzalez, gave up one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and one walk over seven frames...Only three players since World War II have recorded 13 triples in his team's first 74 games: Rod Carew (1977), Curtis Granderson (2007) and Reyes this season...The Mets improved to 3-4 in extra innings this season.