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Big first inning fuels Mets sweep of Brewers

Sep 3, 2008 - 10:18 PM By David Cotey PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- The New York Mets look poised to make a September playoff run.

Ryan Church hit a first-inning grand slam and Oliver Perez pitched well into the seventh as the Mets defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 9-2, on Wednesday to complete an impressive three-game sweep.

Brian Schneider added a home run during a six-run first inning for the Mets, who have won four straight and 17 of their last 22 games.

"We've played good baseball for a long period of time," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "We have to continue that until we run out of games. It's very encouraging to come in here and take three games."

The sweep was just the second the Brewers suffered at home this season. Milwaukee (80-59), which leads the Philadelphia Phillies (76-63) in the National League wild card race, also lost all four games to the Chicago Cubs July 28-31.

"You don't sit back and say, 'Oh, the Mets have got our number,'" Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "It was a good series. Yeah, we got swept. We didn't want to get swept, but we did, but I think we match up OK with them.

"We missed opportunities that we could have taken advantage of and won a game or two. Today, there's nothing we could do."

New York (79-61) entered the day two games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East.

"It shows we battled through adversity and fought to the very end," Church said. "That's a good sign, especially coming down the stretch. It just shows you a lot about this team and it's character."

The Mets took control of the game in the opening frame as they sent nine batters to the plate against Dave Bush (9-10). After leadoff hitter Jose Reyes was retired, Bush allowed consecutive singles to Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Carlos Delgado to yield New York's first run.

After Carlos Beltran walked to load the bases, Church belted Bush's 1-1 offering over the right field fence for his second career grand slam and the Mets' third of the season.

"We did what we're supposed to do - get out there and get out of the gates early," Church said. "We pretty much took the momentum away from them early."

Schneider homered with two outs to give the Mets a 6-0 cushion.

"I made a couple bad pitches, a couple mistakes with guys on base," Bush said. "I got myself behind in the count a couple times and didn't locate real well in certain situations."

Perez (10-7) won for the third straight time but earned his first victory since August 14 at Washington after a string of three straight no-decisions. He allowed two runs on five hits and five walks with five strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.

The only runs the 27-year-old righthander allowed came on Corey Hart's RBI double in the sixth and J.J. Hardy's solo home run in the seventh.

"I walked a lot of people, but more important, I was making pitches when I had to," Perez said. "I was making pitches and getting key outs. Sometimes I walk a lot of people, but I never lost my focus. That's a key for me, to keep my team in the game."

Nick Evans hit a two-run single in the eighth and Wright had a sacrifice fly in the ninth to cap the scoring.