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Arroyo, Reds hand Mets rare loss

Jul 19, 2008 - 3:23 AM By Doug Tifft PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Not even the streaking New York Mets could stop the roll Bronson Arroyo is on.

Arroyo put an end to the Mets' 10-game winning streak with eight brilliant innings, leading the Cincinnati Reds to a 5-2 victory on Friday.

Mentioned as a possible trade candidate as the July 31 deadline approaches, Arroyo (8-7) allowed only two runs and four hits to end New York's longest winning streak in 17 years. The righthander struck out four and walked a batter en route to winning his fourth straight start, improving to 2-0 against the Mets this season.

"They seem to be a team that, regardless of the situation, (will) come out and be aggressive," Arroyo said. "Guys like (Jose) Reyes are going to swing early. They have won 10 games in a row, so I felt fairly certain that these guys were not going to come out and be real choosy."

"He (Arroyo) gives aggressive teams trouble because he works off of their aggressiveness," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "He just goes out there and he is extremely creative. He adds a little, then subtracts a little and moves the ball in, out, up and down. He is extremely intelligent out there. He finds a weakness and he exploits it."

The outing was Arroyo's longest since striking out nine in eight innings of a win over New York on May 12. He improved to 4-2 with a 3.52 ERA in seven career starts against the Mets.

"For whatever reason, I feel really good going against New York," Arroyo said. "Sometimes, a team will just match up well against you. I have felt really good every time I have taken the ball against these guys."

After chasing Mets ace Johan Santana from Thursday's game after four innings, Cincinnati made short work of John Maine (8-7) in this one. After allowing a solo home run by rookie Jay Bruce in the third, Maine ran into trouble in the fifth, when he loaded the bases with two outs.

Following a walk to Ken Griffey Jr. that forced in a run, Brandon Phillips drove in two with a bloop single to right field that fell just out of first baseman Carlos Delgado's reach. Two batters later, Edwin Encarnacion was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, giving the Reds a 5-2 bulge.

That ended the night for Maine, who allowed five runs, five hits and five walks with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings.

The Mets had held opponents to three runs or less in each of the six games leading up to the All-Star break. But they have allowed a combined 13 runs in the two games after the break due, in large part, to the back-to-back poor outings by Santana and Maine.

One night after blowing his fifth save of the season, Reds closer Francisco Cordero rebounded with a scoreless ninth to record his 20th of the campaign.

"Last night is over and there is nothing that I can do about it," Cordero said. "I got my chance tonight and I did my job. I did a better job today with a better selection of pitches, better spots and my pitching was better tonight than it was last night."

The loss ended New York's 10-game winning streak, one that was tied with the Minnesota Twins for the longest in baseball this season.

"As much as I would like to win every game in the second half, that is probably not possible," Wright said. "So we have to re-gather, regroup and we can win 10 more starting tomorrow."