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Wright, Church lead Mets to blowout win

Apr 3, 2008 - 4:56 AM By Christopher Stock PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) - David Wright blasted a three-run homer and Carlos Beltran added three doubles and an RBI as the New York Mets coasted to a 13-0 victory over the Florida Marlins in the rubber game of a three-game series on Wednesday.

Ryan Church homered and drove in three runs, and Jose Reyes added a pair of RBI as the Mets pounded out 17 hits.

Church, Beltran and Wright each had three hits. Luis Castillo, Carlos Delgado and Angel Pagan also had multi-hit games as every Mets starting position player had at least one hit and scored a run.

Wright also had a three-run double in Monday's 7-2 win over Florida.

"I thought I accomplished something this spring and was seeing the ball pretty well," Wright said. "But baseball is so fickle and these things come and go, so when you're feeling well, you have got to take advantage of it."

Beltran's three doubles tied a franchise record, which has been done 22 times in the team's 46-year history.

New York, which learned it will be without Pedro Martinez for the foreseeable future, got a stellar performance from lefthander Oliver Perez.

Perez (1-0) allowed five hits in six scoreless innings. The 26-year-old struck out eight and walked just one. Nelson Figueroa, Pedro Feliciano and Billy Wagner finished off the six-hitter.

"I was using all my pitches, changing speeds, and that's why the batters did not feel comfortable," Perez said.

Prior to the game, the Mets placed Martinez on the 15-day disabled list with a mild strained left hamstring. Martinez will return to pitching in 4-6 weeks.

Perez said he did not feel extra pressure to perform with Martinez out.

"It's tough for everybody," Perez said. "We understand these things happen. ... I just have to be ready every time they give me the ball."

Meanwhile, manager Willie Randolph was not too worried.

"We don't trip on stuff like that," Randolph said. "If you are here with us and want to join the party, that's great, we'll invite you. We are going to miss him. I'm not trying to play down Pedro. He has to get healthy and give us the quality starts we're looking for. We'll hold the fort down until he gets back."

The Mets jumped all over lefthander Andrew Miller in the second inning as Beltran double and scored on single by Delgado. Church then hit a two-run homer down the right field line for a 3-0 lead. Pagan doubled to drive home Beltran in the third for a four-run lead.

New York then broke open the game with a five-run sixth. Reyes hit a two-run double off reliever Lee Gardner and Wright delivered a 433-foot shot to deep left-center field for his first homer of the season.

"I have a new-found respect for the Marlins' hitters," Wright said. "You really have to crush one to get it out of here, and I don't have the kind of juice to go to center field or the alley - so I am going to resort to just pulling it."

Wright extended his hitting streak to 20 games dating back to last season and doubled in the fifth to chase Miller.

Miller (0-1), who was acquired from the Detroit Tigers in the Miguel Cabrera/Dontrelle Willis trade, allowed five runs in 4 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and two walks.

"That was a pretty poor effort on my part, a pretty bad start," Miller said. "A lot of pitches up, a lot of pitches over the plate. It seems for every good pitch I made, the next one I'd leave right down the middle - belt high - and as you can see, they really punished us."

Beltran greeted Matt Lindstrom with a double, which appeared to hit a bar above the right field fence. It was originally called home run, but was overturned.