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Easley supports Lawrence as Mets pound Brewers

Aug 2, 2007 - 10:41 PM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Brian Lawrence has Damion Easley to thank for ending a lengthy winless drought.

Easley ripped his second career inside-the-park home run to snap a sixth-inning tie and lift the New York Mets to a 12-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Thursday afternoon.

David Wright tied a career high with four hits, including a solo blast, for the Mets, who extended Brewers starter Chris Capuano's career-long losing streak to eight games.

Lawrence (1-0), who had not pitched in the major leagues since 2005, won for the first time since May 28, 2004 when he was with the San Diego Padres - also against the Brewers at Miller Park.

"If I could get 10-plus runs every game it would be nice," Lawrence said. "It feels good to get the first one done with and move on from there."

After Moises Alou led off the top of the fifth with a double to left field off Capuano (5-8), Easley hit a rocket that hit off an angled portion of the right center field wall. Center fielder Bill Hall misplayed the carom and, by the time he recovered and retrieved the ball, Easley had circled the bases to give the Mets a 5-3 lead.

"When it hit the wall, I was expecting to get a triple," Easley said. "The way Sandy (Alomar, Mets third base coach) was waving led me to believe I had a chance. That's a long run. It wasn't like I was needing life support or anything like that, but it was tiring."

After the Brewers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, the Mets tacked on three more in the seventh off reliever Carlos Villanueva, including an RBI double by reliever Jorge Sosa.

Lawrence allowed three runs and eight hits in five innings with three strikeouts and no walks. He allowed RBI singles to Tony Graffanino and Corey Hart in the second inning and a solo home run to Hart in the fifth, but kept the Mets in the game.

"He did a nice job of finessing and keeping them off-stride," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "It's a small sample, but I like what I saw."

Scott Schoeneweis, Sosa and Aaron Sele hurled the final four frames to finish out the game.

Lawrence, who took Sosa's spot in the rotation, had not pitched in the major leagues since September 29, 2005. He was 8-2 with a 3.87 ERA in 12 starts for Class AAA New Orleans of the Pacific Coast League.

"You can get outs in Triple A all year long, but until you get here and do it, that's in the back of your mind," Lawrence said. "There were some nerves, but not as bad as your first time up. Sometimes that can drive you to do things you don't normally do."

He missed the entire 2006 season with the Washington Nationals after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.

"It feels good to go out there and put a uniform on and compete again," Lawrence added. "It's been a while."

Capuano's struggles continued as he allowed five runs and 10 hits, while striking out eight and walking one. The Brewers are now 0-13 in Capuano's last 13 starts, and the lefthander is 0-8 during that stretch - going winless since May 7 after starting the season 5-0.

"There was a few bad pitches, but overall, I feel I threw the ball pretty well," Capuano said. "I'm not thinking about (the losing streak). I'm thinking about making one pitch at a time."

Hart smacked two homers for Milwaukee, which has lost five of its last six contests.

In the seventh inning, Brewers manager Ned Yost and catcher Johnny Estrada got into a shouting match and had to be separated near the dugout tunnel by other Brewers players and coaches.

"That's between us a little bit," Yost said. "There was some frustration expressed on a number of different sides about our style of play and the way that we've been playing. We handled it and took care of it like good teams do."