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Diamondbacks rally past Wagner, Mets

Jun 12, 2008 - 10:59 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- In the last 24 hours, the Arizona Diamondbacks have not been able to touch New York Mets starting pitchers. When New York's bullpen has made an appearance, that has been another story.

Miguel Montero lifted a sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning as the Diamondbacks rallied for a 5-4 triumph over the Mets on Thursday afternoon in the rubber game of a three-game series.

With one out, Montero hit a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to score Justin Upton, who opened the inning with a double to left off Aaron Heilman (0-3).

"I tried to make contact anyway, especially you got a man on third and one out, I want to put it in play some way, somehow," Montero said. "He gave me a good pitch to hit. He threw me a good pitch."

Arizona posted its 12th comeback win of the season and second of the series, which saw it rally from a pair of four-run deficits and a three-run bulge.

The Diamondbacks overcame a 5-1 deficit with four home runs in the late innings on Tuesday. A day later, Arizona was one strike away from a 3-0 loss before Mark Reynolds hit a three-run homer off Wagner.

"That's a trait that we had last year that has not shown up for us much this year," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "Sometimes, if you get that feeling again, you feel like 27 hard outs until they put us away (and) you're going to continue to grind it.

"I think the first night really played into the last couple of days. We didn't get our heads down. We kept grinding away until the last possible out."

This time, Arizona started its comeback with two runs in the eighth off Joe Smith, who gave up Chris Snyder's tie-breaking blast in the eighth on Tuesday. Smith allowed a two-run triple by Reynolds and had to be bailed out when Scott Schoeneweis got the pinch-hitting Snyder to swing at a 3-0 pitch and fly out weakly to left.

Wagner, who blew his fifth save in 18 opportunities and third in a row, was even worse than Smith. The lefthander has blown three straight saves for the first time since May 12-26, 2000 when he failed to convert five in a row for the Houston Astros.

"It's frustrating to go out there with a chance for the team to win the game and lose," Wagner said. "I stink right now. I (stink). I'm not getting it done."

"That's the way bullpens are," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "You got to find a way to do it sometimes."

After Wagner issued a leadoff walk to Montero, he allowed an infield single by pinch hitter Stephen Drew and an RBI double by Chris Young before walking Augie Ojeda to load the bases.

Following a visit from manager Willie Randolph, Wagner finally got an out when Drew was forced out at the plate on Orlando Hudson's ground ball. But the lefthander could not nail down the save as Conor Jackson just beat out second baseman Damion Easley's throw on another grounder, allowing Young to score the tying run.

"He's a good pitcher," Young said of Wagner. "We stayed locked in there and tried to get pitches to hit and took advantage. He's definitely one of the best closers in the game."

Wagner's implosion ruined a day in which Johan Santana turned in his finest showing as a Met. Santana tied a season high with 10 strikeouts and scattered three hits over seven innings before the collapse.

Mike Pelfrey pitched into the ninth Wednesday before Wagner served up Reynolds' game-tying blast, spoiling the righthander's stellar performance.

"We worked the starters, got their pitch count up," Young said. "Pelfrey in the first game went up to 115-120 pitches but we (also) got Johan out of the game.

"He's (Santana) amazing. He's tough. Their bullpen's tough, too, but you keep battling. Even with Santana, we were getting guys on base. You just wait for that big hit and tonight it came from three different people, and that's what got us the win."

This one sent New York (31-34) to its sixth loss in seven games and dropped it three games under .500, equaling a season high. The Mets have not been four under since September 2005 and failed to capitalize on any possible momentum Carlos Beltran's walk-off home run might have given them on Wednesday.

"We're not catching any breaks but we're not playing good baseball right now," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "This is a time when you've got to be mentally tough. You can't allow these losses, and the way we've been losing to deflate us."

The go-ahead run in the 10th on Thursday came after Arizona closer Brandon Lyon (2-1) worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth, sending the teams to extra innings for the second time in less than 24 hours.

The 10th went much smoother for Lyon, who had help from his defense. First baseman Jackson dove into the first row of the stands to catch Ramon Castro's pop-up, and Lyon ended the game by getting Chris Aguila to ground into a double play.

Lyon also had help in the ninth from his fielders as the third baseman Ojeda made a diving stop of Wright's sharp grounder to keep Jose Reyes at second. The ninth finished when the shortstop Drew made a backhanded grab of Easley's grounder and managed to throw out Carlos Delgado at second.

Getting the win at that point turned out to be a relief for Melvin, who said he was out of available pitchers after using six Wednesday. He also said he might have considered employing Doug Davis, who is slated to start Friday against Kansas City.

Castro homered in the second off Arizona starter Dan Haren, who nearly matched Santana by allowing just two runs on five hits in six innings. Wright had an RBI double to right field in the third but was thrown out by Upton trying to stretch it into a triple, and Fernando Tatis had a two-run single in the seventh off Arizona reliever Doug Slaten.

"He's (Santana) obviously one of the best pitchers in the game and runs are at premium," Haren said. "Every run it means a little bit more against a guy like that, and I put us in a hole, but luckily, it wasn't too big of a hole for us to dig out of."