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Sosa shuts down Cubs as Mets win again

May 17, 2007 - 8:02 AM FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- After a long wait, Jorge Sosa made quick work of the Chicago Cubs.

Sosa allowed just one run and one hit in seven-plus innings and Damion Easley hit a two-run homer as the New York Mets defeated the Cubs, 8-1, in a game that began after a rain delay of more than three hours.

Rookie Carlos Gomez had a pair of run-scoring hits for his first two major league RBI for the Mets, who banged out 12 hits and won for the 10th time in 14 games.

Sosa (3-0) won his third straight start since being called up from Class AAA New Orleans to replace the disabled Orlando Hernandez in the Mets' rotation. Veteran Chan Ho Park was given the first chance to replace Hernandez and failed, but Sosa has risen to the occasion.

"When you're in a nice rhythm, it's like being a hitter. He's in a zone," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "He's getting the opportunity to get the ball. He's capable of doing it."

The 30-year-old Sosa allowed just one hit, a leadoff single in the third by Cesar Izturis, while striking out five and walking three.

"It's only three starts but I have to keep my head down and keep working hard," Sosa said through an interpreter.

Sosa, a 13-game winner with Atlanta two years ago, kept the Cubs off-balance, particularly with his slider.

"He's got a weird slider. It goes down and sometimes it goes sideways," catcher Paul Lo Duca said.

Joe Smith replaced Sosa after a leadoff walk to Izturis in the eighth and allowed a broken-bats single to Cliff Floyd.

Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was removed from the game after singling to left field in the eighth with slight tightness in his left hamstring.

"I'm good. I'm playing tomorrow," Reyes said.

Rich Hill (4-3) dropped his second straight start, allowing four runs and seven hits in six innings.

"I'm in a rut. I've got to work my way out of it," Hill said.

Control has become a problem for Hill, who won his first three starts. The lefthander walked four batters and has given seven free passes in his last two starts.

"He's walking people now," manager Lou Piniella said. "He wasn't walking people earlier in the year."

The Mets scored a run on consecutive two-out singles in the second by Paul Lo Duca and Shawn Green before Gomez, who was called up from the minors on Sunday, blooped a single to right field.

David Wright drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly in the third. Wright hit a pop up to short right-center field with the bases loaded and Easley alertly raced home when second baseman Ryan Theriot caught the ball while backpedaling.

Easley belted a two-run homer in the fourth to increase the lead to 4-0. He has six homers in his first 61 at-bats and is two behind club leader Carlos Beltran.

The Mets have hit a homer in seven straight games.

The Mets broke open the game with three runs in the seventh off Neal Cotts. Wright drove in is second run with a double, Lo Duca had a sacrifice fly and Gomez added an RBI double.

Carlos Delgado of the Mets was credited with his first steal since Opening Day 2002 when he took second on the back end of a double steal in the third. The theft in 2002 for Toronto also was part of a double steal.

Delgado drove in the final Mets' run in the eighth on a force play.

Alfonso Soriano was 0-for-4 and failed to reach base for the first time in 32 games as a Cub.

The official length of the delay was three hours, seven minutes.