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Beltran, Church power Mets past Dodgers

Jun 2, 2008 - 4:53 AM By Zachary Braziller PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - So much for those beleaguered New York Mets and their anemic offense.

Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church each blasted a pair of two-out, two-run homers in the third inning as the New York Mets cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night at Shea Stadium.

Johan Santana (7-3) pitched effectively into the eighth inning for the Mets, who have won five of their last six contests. The lefthanded ace allowed a run and six hits with three walks and six strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings.

"I felt good tonight, everything was working," Santana said. "It always helps when you get the lead, put some runs on the board. My teammates did a good job putting the ball in play, scoring runs."

It took the Dodgers just seven pitches to touch up Santana for an early run, but he was nearly flawless thereafter in his finest start yet at Shea Stadium. Pitching to a 4.26 ERA in four home starts, Santana breezed after the first. He allowed just three hits after the first two batters each reached, retiring 15 of the last 19 batters he faced.

"With Santana, you give him that kind of lead, he's tough," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "He knows how to pitch. He's not going to get himself in trouble."

Cast off as underachievers just six days ago, the Mets have come to life. After falling three games under .500 and with manager Willie Randolph's job possibly in jeopardy, New York took two of three from the then-National League East-leading Florida Marlins and three of four from the Dodgers this weekend.

"As a team we feel way better than we felt last week," Santana said. "We just got to be consistent. That's what winning teams do."

During the streak, the Mets came from behind twice late in games. They fell behind again Sunday night, but this time the Mets didn't wait around for late-game heroics. Instead, they pounced all over Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda (2-5) from the outset.

David Wright drove in Jose Reyes in the first with a run-scoring single, and the Mets ambushed the righthander in the third with five more runs.

Wright plated Reyes again with a two-out RBI single, but the real fireworks were provided by Beltran and Church, who smacked two-run shots just 11 pitches apart.

In his first game back from a concussion suffered May 20 against the Atlanta Braves, Church didn't show any ill effects of the head injury. He homered over the right field wall, doubled to center field in the fifth and singled to the opposite field in the seventh.

"It felt good to be back on the field with the guys," said Church, who reported no ill effects afterward. "It was frustrating sitting on the bench not being able to do anything. I was glad we were able to get the 'W.'"

Kuroda's string as the Dodgers' tough-luck starter came to a halt. Having given up more than three earned runs in just one of his 11 starts but with just two wins to show for it, he allowed six runs over 2 2/3 innings pitched. It was his shortest outing of the season.

"He just couldn't locate like he's been locating the last four or five starts," Torre said.