Pirates LH Zach Duke(6-12, 5.10) allowed one run over 7 innings while OFs Lastings(Ex-Met) Milledge(5th inning) and Jose Tabata(6th) homered as Pittsburgh defeated the New York Mets 2-1 Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. NY managed only 4 singles vs Duke, scoring in the 1st after SS Jose Reyes bunted for a base hit and advanced to 2nd on a throwing error. He then stole 3rd and came home on a CF Carlos Beltran sacrifice fly. Santana drops to 10-8 although he allowed only 4 hits while striking out 9 and walking 1. With the loss, The Mets are an even .500(62-62) in 2010.
METS STARTING LINE-UP: Reyes, LF Angel Pagan, CF Carlos Beltran, 3B David Wright, RF Jeff Francoeur, 1B Ike Davis, C Henry Blanco, 2B Ruben Tejada, Pitcher
DUKE DOOM: Duke is 4-1 with 2.91 ERA in 7 career starts vs the Mets. The lefty has lost 8 of his previous 11 starts yet won for only the 2nd time in 13 starts since May 18th.
GAME NOTES: Reyes has now hit in 22 consecutive road games, tying a team record set by Mets legend and TV color man 1B Keith Hernandez in 1987 … Santana has pitched 3 consecutive complete games … Mets were denied their first road sweep of an NL team… Club traded C Rod Barajas to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a straight up waiver claim, meaning only money(salary) is exchanged. OF Jesus Feliciano was called up to take Barajas roster spot with rookie Josh Thole now assuming the role as everyday catcher… Before today, Santana had allowed 1 run or fewer in 7 of 10 starts… After scoring 12 runs in the first 14 innings of this series, the Mets bats returned to their slumping ways, scoring three runs or fewer in 10 of their last 12 games
NEXT GAME:
Team is off Monday, return to action Tuesday vs the Marlins at Citi Field
7:10 pm
Marlins RH Josh Johnson(11-5,2.27) vs. Mets RH R.A. Dickey(8-5,2.41)
