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Friday, Apr. 14 7:05pm ET
Mets win amid the usual chaos | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Just another night in Mets-land -- Bobby Valentine's mouth got him in trouble again, and Mike Piazza's bat may have gotten him out of it. Piazza homered twice in his first career five-hit game and Melvin Mora had a go-ahead, two-run single in the 12th inning as the Mets, shrugging off yet another controversy, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-5 Friday. The Mets outhit the Pirates 20-11, but didn't win it until Mora followed Rey Ordonez's single and Benny Agbayani's bad-hop double with a broken-bat single to center off Jose Silva (2-1). The extra-inning victory came amid the Mets' latest distraction -- inflammatory comments reportedly made several days ago by Valentine concerning some of general manager Steve Phillips' personnel decisions. Phillips flew to Pittsburgh and met briefly with Valentine, then said he was "surprised and curious" about the comments. They also were to meet after the game, although Phillips said the manager's job wasn't in jeopardy. "We'll continue to talk," Valentine said. "We didn't have a long time to talk about it (before the game)." Asked if the controversy should subside in a day or two, Valentine said, "Why would I? I think it should, though." Valentine, in a talk to a group of Philadelphia business school students, reportedly questioned why the Mets let pitcher Masato Yoshii go. He also said he couldn't bench Derek Bell because he makes too much money and he tries to ignore outspoken outfielder Rickey Henderson. Valentine talked to several of the players Friday and apparently tried to downplay his remarks. "You just have to realize people say things or do things they wish they could take back," Piazza said. "Nobody's perfect. It happens. You just have to be prepared to do your job." Mets starter Al Leiter said, "We won a baseball game, and winning masks a lot of things." Piazza, who had homered in the seventh, followed with his third homer of the season and 19th of his career against Pittsburgh. He followed up a game-winning double in the ninth inning Thursday in Philadelphia by going 5-for-6 with two homers, a double and four RBI. John Franco (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory after Armando Benitez blew his first save opportunity of the season and a 4-3 lead in the ninth. Piazza and Robin Ventura homered on consecutive pitches off Jason Schmidt to put the Mets ahead 4-2 in the seventh, but their usually reliable bullpen couldn't hold it. Kevin Young, 0-for-15 until he doubled in the fourth, hit his first homer in the eighth off Leiter, who yielded three runs, two earned, in 7 2/3 innings. Benitez, 3-for-3 previously in save opportunities, struck out the first two batters in the ninth. But Jason Kendall, whose game-winning single capped a two-run game-winning rally in the ninth Thursday against Montreal, doubled and Pat Meares tripled to right to tie it at 4. Piazza had broken a 2-all tie in the seventh by hitting a hanging breaking ball from Schmidt over the right-field wall. "If you keep hanging breaking balls to good hitters, sooner or later it will catch up to you," Schmidt said. With Schmidt clearly tiring, Ventura followed on the next pitch with another drive to right for his first homer -- the first time he has left the park since his grand slam-turned single to beat the Braves in Game 5 of the 1999 National League playoffs. The Pirates normally have a 100-pitch limit for their starters early in the season, but Schmidt threw 139 pitches in seven innings after throwing 127 in a 1-0 Sunday to Randy Johnson and Arizona. Asked if he was wearing down, Schmidt said, "I'll never admit that." Earlier, Wil Cordero hit his first Pirates homer in the second. The Mets tied it in the third on Edgardo Alfonzo's sacrifice fly, then took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on Alfonzo's triple and Piazza's broken-bat double. Game notesPiazza is a .357 career hitter against Pittsburgh. ... Schmidt is 0-2 in three starts after going 3-1 last April. ... Alfonzo was 0-for-11 until he tripled and Ordonez was 0-for-24 until he singled in the fourth. ... Cordero's homer was the first run the Pirates have scored for Schmidt this season. ... Franco hit Meares in the top of the helmet in the 11th, causing a loud thud that could be heard around the ballpark. But Meares stayed down for only a few seconds before taking first. ... Silva has gotten the decision in the Pirates' last three games. ... Piazza is 11-for-21 with two homers, four doubles and eight RBIs in his last five games. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard NY Mets Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse Business as usual? Valentine's criticism of Mets surprises GM
RECAPS Texas 7 Cleveland 2
NY Mets 8
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