Mets Melt In The Desert; Make It 9 Losses In Last 12
PHOENIX (AP) -- Ian Kennedy won his seventh straight start to become the National League's second 15-game winner and the Arizona Diamondbacks widened their newfound NL West lead with a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets on Friday night.
Kennedy (15-3) allowed a run on six hits in seven innings to tie Philadelphia's Roy Halladay for the most wins in the NL.
Justin Upton homered, Cody Ransom doubled in two runs and Kennedy helped himself with an RBI double as Arizona pulled two games ahead of second-place San Francisco, which lost 2-1 at Florida.
Jason Bay went 3 for 4 with a double and RBI single in the Mets' third straight loss and ninth in 12 games.
Arizona first baseman-outfielder Xavier Nady's left hand was broken when he was hit by a pitch from the Mets' Dillon Gee in the second inning.
The Mets rallied with a run off setup man David Hernandez in the eighth and another off closer J.J. Putz in the ninth but fell just short. Putz got his 28th save in 32 tries.
With their 66th victory, the Diamondbacks topped their win total for all of last season, when they finished last in the NL West for the second year in a row. They have won four straight.
Gee (10-4), who gave up four runs on five hits in five innings, fell to 3-4 in his last nine starts.
Kennedy struck out five, walked three and hit a batter.
He has not given up more than three runs in any of his last seven starts and hasn't lost since July 3. The 26-year-old right-hander came from the New York Yankees in December of 2009 as part of the three-team deal that sent Curtis Granderson from Detroit to the Yankees. His seven straight wins tie the Yankees' C.C. Sabathia and Detroit's Justin Verlander for longest streak in the majors this season.
Upton's 24th home run of the season put Arizona up 1-0 in the first, then the Diamondbacks scored three in the second.
With one out, Nady was hit on an 0-2 pitch but stayed in the game to run the bases before leaving when the inning ended. Sean Burroughs doubled to put runners at second and third, then Cody Ransom doubled down the left field line to score both of them.
That brought up Kennedy, who squared to bunt, but pulled back to swing away, doubling deep into the right-center gap to bring home Ransom and make it 4-0.
The Mets loaded the bases with one out in the fourth on a hit batter, single and walk, but Kennedy fanned Ruben Tejada on three pitches, then struck out Gee to end the inning.
New York broke through in the fifth when Angel Pagan singled, took second on David Wright's walked, then scored on Bay's second single of the night.
Bay doubled off David Hernandez to lead off the eighth, took third when Josh Thole lined out to right and scored on Tejada's groundout to make it a two-run game.
After a foul ball hit a support beam on the Chase Field roof, a very rare occurrence, pinch hitter Scott Hairston doubled off Putz to start the ninth, then took third on a ground out. He scored on Willie Harris' sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 4-3. But Wright grounded out to second to end the game.
NOTES: Only the AL's Verlander (17) and Sabathia (16) have more wins than Kennedy. ... Kennedy's three walks match his season high. ... Arizona's Daniel Hudson, coming off perhaps the worst start of his young career, goes for his 12th victory Saturday night. The Mets will counter with Mike Pelfrey, who has a career 0-4 mark with a 9.68 ERA in four starts at Chase Field. ... Diamondbacks pitchers have 28 RBIs, by far the most in the majors. ... Bay has reached safely in 14 straight games. ... The Mets swept Arizona in three games April 22-24th.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
