• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Perez uses arm, bat to guide Nationals past Mets

May 13, 2008 - 3:44 AM By Doug Mittler PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - Odalis Perez finally won in his ninth start of the season, and the Washington Nationals took more of the early-season luster off Nelson Figueroa.

Perez battled through 6 1/3 innings and had three hits - including a pair of RBI singles - as the Nationals chased Figueroa after five innings en route to a 10-4 victory over the New York Mets in the opener of a four-game series on Monday.

Jesus Flores and former Met Lastings Milledge had two-run doubles for the Nationals, who bounced back after being swept in a three-game series by the Florida Marlins.

The game-time temperature was a chilly 54 degrees with 20 miles-per-hour winds that made fly balls an adventure.

Perez (1-3) worked his way through the elements, allowing four runs and 11 hits, including home runs to Damion Easley in the second and David Wright in the seventh.

"It wasn't the best way to get (my first win). It was a struggle," Perez said. "Our offense was helping me, and I was helping myself."

"The longer the game went on, the better he got," Wright said of Perez. "You don't have to be overpowering to win."

The Nationals' Opening Night starter, Perez received more than four runs of support for just the second time this season.

The lefthander, making his 220th career start, provided some of that support himself. Perez became the first Nationals pitcher to record three hits since Livan Hernandez on April 19, 2006 against Philadelphia. He had RBI singles in the fifth and sixth.

The Nationals have reached double digits in runs three times this season - twice against the Mets.

The 33-year-old Figueroa, who pitched in Mexico and Taiwan last season, was one of the Mets' feel-good stories of April after he won his first two starts. The journeyman righthander, however, has struggled with his command in losing his last two starts.

Figueroa (2-3) needed 108 pitches to get through five innings and allowed six runs - four earned - and five hits. He walked five, hit two batters and had a costly throwing error that brought home a run in the fourth.

The celebration by the Nationals bench appeared to get under Figueroa's skin, and he remained angry after the game.

"They were cheerleading like a bunch of softball girls," said Figueroa, without identifying any culprits. "That's why they are who they are."

Washington went ahead for good in the fifth, when Figueroa allowed a single to Nick Johnson and walked Rob Mackowiak. Flores lined a two-run double to left field and scored on a single by Perez that gave Washington a 6-3 lead.

The Nationals broke open the game with four runs in the sixth off reliever Jorge Sosa. Milledge lined a two-run double off the left-field wall, quieting a crowd that booed him throughout.

"It's good to come here and do some damage," Milledge said. "Don't get me wrong. I try to do damage wherever I go."

Perez and Felipe Lopez had RBI singles in the sixth to cap the scoring.