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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- Matt Williams is feeling better. That's great
news for an Arizona team that counts on him for his leadership,
toughness, defense and bat.
Williams, bothered all season by injuries, was 3-for-5 with a
two-run homer Sunday as the Diamondbacks cooled off New York 9-5
and avoided a three-game sweep by the Mets.
|  | | Matt Williams hits a two-run homer in the third against the Mets. He also singled and doubled. |
"We all know what Matt brings to this team," said Greg
Colbrunn, who hit a three-run homer. "There's no secret about it.
He's our cornerstone. He's everything to this team."
New York had won 10 of 11 coming in and had won seven straight
against Arizona going back to last year's NL playoffs.
Williams, who hit .150 (3-for-20) in the first five games of the
homestand, singled and even legged out a double. With a
slow-to-heal strained right quadriceps muscle, he said he never
would have tried to make it to second a few weeks ago.
"It's getting there," Williams said. "I did a lot of running
today, so we'll see how it feels tomorrow, but generally it's
getting better."
He needed only a triple to hit for the cycle, a fact his
teammates kidded him about in the dugout.
"I don't do triples," Williams said. "I turn triples into
doubles."
Williams missed the first 43 games of the season after breaking
a bone in his right foot with a foul ball in spring training.
During his rehabilitation at Double-A El Paso, he strained his
quadriceps, extending his sting on the disabled list another 2½ weeks. He came back, but hobbled around the bases and didn't have
his usual wide range at third base.
"We live it with him," manager Buck Showalter said. "We feel
his frustration. But I tell you what, don't let him get it going,
because somebody's going to pay for it when he does."
Danny Bautista hit a solo homer and Tony Womack had a two-out,
two-run single as the Diamondbacks stayed a game behind first-place
San Francisco in the NL West.
Armando Reynoso (8-7) improved to 7-2 in 13 starts at home. He
allowed three runs and seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, struck out five
and walked three. The former Met left after giving up a two-run
homer to Mike Bordick.
"We can't win every game," said Mets center fielder Jay
Payton, who had his first career four-hit game. "We've played well
lately. We had some opportunities to score some runs today, but
that's baseball. One day you score three runs, the next you're
lucky to get two or three hits."
The Mets were without Mike Piazza, who sprained his left knee in
his team's 6-2 victory Saturday night. Piazza is not expected back
behind the plate for 3-5 days.
Glendon Rusch (7-9) gave up five runs on seven hits in four innings. He
also lost 6-0 at Cincinnati on Monday. It was Rusch's shortest
outing of the season.
"I struggled quite a bit with my command," Rusch said. "A
couple of bad pitches hurt me. Just when I thought I was battling
back, everything started to go wrong at the same time."
With the game 1-1 in the third, Luis Gonzalez singled with two
outs, then Williams connected on an 0-1 pitch for his fourth homer
of the season, his first since July 15.
Arizona made it 5-1 with two more runs in the fourth. Damian
Miller walked with one out and Danny Bautista singled. Reynoso's
sacrifice moved up the runners and Womack slapped a 1-2 pitch into
center to drive in both. Bautista's leadoff homer made it 6-1 in
the sixth.
Todd Pratt, starting in place of Piazza, singled to start the
seventh. After pinch-hitter Lenny Harris beat out a potential,
double-play grounder for a fielder's choice, Bordick ended
Reynoso's day with his second NL homer to cut the lead to 6-3.
Colbrunn's three-run homer off Dennis Cook after one-out singles
by Williams and Steve Finley made it 9-3 in the seventh.
Edgardo Alfonzo and Payton had RBI singles in the ninth before
Matt Mantei came in and struck out Matt Franco for his eighth save
in 10 chances.
Game notes
Piazza underwent an MRI exam Sunday and the test confirmed
that the injury was a knee sprain. ... The Mets move on to Houston,
where Mike Hampton is to pitch against his former teammates Monday
night. ... Williams, who had 142 RBI last season, has 15 this
year. ... Arizona is 2-1 against Atlanta and 1-2 against New York
on a homestand that ends with three games against Montreal. ...
Womack's 41 RBI this year equals his total last season.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
NY Mets Clubhouse
Arizona Clubhouse
Knee sprain to sideline Piazza at least 3 days
RECAPS
Kansas City 3
Boston 1
Cleveland 5
Anaheim 2
Minnesota 7
Detroit 3
Seattle 11
NY Yankees 1
Texas 11
Toronto 6
Tampa Bay 7
Baltimore 4
Chi. White Sox 13
Oakland 0
Florida 9
Cincinnati 6
Philadelphia 10
Colorado 9
Houston 8
Montreal 1
San Francisco 7
Pittsburgh 1
Arizona 9
NY Mets 5
San Diego 8
Chicago Cubs 6
Atlanta 6
St. Louis 4
Milwaukee 9
Los Angeles 6
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Greg Colbrunn is happy to see the D-backs' offense get going.
wav: 149 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Buck Showalter likes to see his team score runs.
wav: 100 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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