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Kapler powers Brewers past Mets

Apr 13, 2008 - 9:51 PM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - Some soft hands and a few hard-hit balls helped the Milwaukee Brewers win their first two road series of the season for the first time in 13 years.

The Brewers tied a club record by turning five double plays and Rickie Weeks and Gabe Kapler each homered for the second straight day in a 9-7 victory over the New York Mets.

Corey Hart tied a career high with four hits for the Brewers, who won the rubber game of the three-game series. Milwaukee last turned five double plays on June 9, 2004 against the Anaheim Angels.

"We made some crunch-time plays defensively that were very beneficial to our business," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "We've been playing good defensively all year long."

Neither starting pitcher, Milwaukee's Jeff Suppan and New York's Oliver Perez, could find their groove and it was the Brewers who ultimately survived the slugfest that featured 25 hits and 11 pitchers.

Brian Schneider drove in three runs and David Wright homered for the Mets, who squandered a 6-2 lead after three innings and hit into double plays every inning from the fourth through eighth.

"That's just one of those games," Schneider said . "We had our chances to score. We just couldn't get that hit. It hurts because we had a lead and we had a chance to come back."

The last time the Mets hit into five or more double plays was six against San Francisco in a 12-inning game on August 26, 2004.

Salomon Torres (2-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings and former Met Guillermo Mota made it interesting in the eighth.

After Luis Castillo hit into a double play, Mota walked two batters to load the bases before Carlos Delgado flied out to right field. It was a satisfying performance for Mota, who was booed loudly when he entered the game.

"The phone rings and I go out there," Mota said.

Eric Gagne worked the ninth for his third save and second in as many days. The Brewers, who won two of three in Chicago to open the season, last won their first two road series in 1995.

Kapler hit a two-run-homer in the first and had an RBI single in the seventh. It was the fourth homer for Kapler, who is back in the major leagues after announcing his retirement and managing in the Red Sox's minor league system last season.

"Today was a good day and I'm grateful for it," Kapler said. "I'm not trying to label what's going on. I'm just enjoying baseball."

The Brewers scored twice off Jorge Sosa (1-1) in the sixth to take the lead for good. Weeks, who scored three times, homered to lead off the inning and Hart drove in a run with his fourth single of the game. Weeks reached on an error by first baseman Delgado in the seventh and later scored on a double to right field by Kapler to make it 9-6.

Suppan labored through four innings, allowing six runs and nine hits.

Perez, who had not allowed a run in his first 11 2/3 innings this season, was no better for the Mets, surrendering six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

"You don't want to have a lot of days like this," Perez said.

The Mets jumped on Suppan for six runs in the first three innings.

Wright hit his second homer in as many games and 100th of his career in the bottom of the first. The Mets took a 3-2 lead in the second on an RBI groundout by Damion Easley and a run-scoring single by Schneider past a drawn-in infield.

Suppan's troubles continued in the third when Luis Castillo blooped a double to left field to snap an 0-for-15 slump and scored on a single by Carlos Beltran. Schneider later lined a two-run single to make it 6-2.

The Brewers scored four runs off Perez in the fourth on two-run singles by Jason Kendall and Ryan Braun, tying the game at 6-6.

Easley had an RBI single in the seventh off Brian Shouse, who then got Schneider to ground into a double play.