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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PHOENIX (AP) -- The New York Mets are on such a roll, beating
Randy Johnson was no problem. Of course it helped that Johnson, coming off a season-high
145-pitch effort, was as bad as he's been all season.
|  | | Randy Johnson lasted only 3 2/3 innings Friday in his shortest outing of the season, which kept him searching for his 16th victory. |
Johnson lasted only 3 2/3 innings, his shortest outing in more
than two years, as the Mets won for the ninth time in 10 games with
a 6-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.
Rick Reed shut out Arizona for seven innings before leaving
after Jay Bell's two-out RBI single in the eighth.
Reed (6-2) gave up six hits in 7 2/3 innings. He struck out four
and didn't walk anyone. Just two starts earlier, Reed threw seven
scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory over Greg Maddux and Atlanta.
"It's a thrill to go out there and beat guys like that," Reed
said. "I mean, they're the best in the business. When you beat a
pitcher like that and a team like the Diamondbacks, it's pretty
special."
Joe McEwing, 6-for-17 career against Johnson, knocked in two
runs with a double in the second and a sacrifice fly in the
four-run fourth. Mike Piazza drove in two runs with a two-out,
bases-loaded single.
"It's a challenge to go up against a guy like that," said
McEwing, hitting just .243 this season. "That's what's so
wonderful about this game. On any given day, anybody can beat
anybody."
The Mets picked up where they left off after an 8-1 home stand.
"We want to keep that momentum going out here," McEwing said.
"We had a great home stand, and just try to keep going, playing
winning baseball."
Johnson (15-4) allowed five runs, but three were unearned
because they came after shortstop Tony Womack booted a routine
grounder which would have been the third out in the fourth inning.
Johnson failed in his third try to get his 16th victory and has
lost two of his last three starts. After a 14-2 start, Johnson is 1-2 with two no-decisions in his last five outings.
"My last four or five starts have been frustrating for me. I
feel like I haven't been doing my job," he said. "I go out there
with a game plan and I can't get anything going."
Catcher Kelly Stinnett said the difference is control.
"He's not spotting the ball as well as he was early in the
year," Stinnett said. "He has been working behind a lot of
hitters. If anybody does that, they're going to give up hits."
The 145 pitches he threw in a no-decision against Florida five
days earlier may have taken a toll, and when the subject came up,
Johnson made an interesting, if unexplained, reference to manager
Buck Showalter.
Asked if those 145 pitches had affected his performance Friday,
Johnson said "Not according to Buck."
Whether that meant Johnson thought he could have used an extra
day's rest, nobody knew. It was the last question Johnson answered
after the game.
Showalter said Johnson can't win all the time. "He's human," Showalter said. "He has nights like this
sometimes, and we don't assume or take for granted what he does out there."
Johnson gave up eight hits, struck out five and walked two as
Arizona fell one game behind San Francisco in the NL West. The
Giants beat Pittsburgh 5-3.
Johnson hadn't left a game this early since he was with Seattle
and was lifted after three innings May 19, 1998, in a 10-4 loss to
Texas. His shortest appearances this season were 6 2-3 innings,
against the Mets in New York on May 21 and at Philadelphia on April 25.
Arizona didn't have more than one runner on base in any inning
until the eighth. Kelly Stinnett singled with one out, Womack
followed with a two-out single and Bell's single drove in the run.
The runners advanced to second and third on a double-steal after
Dennis Cook relieved Reed, but Luis Gonzalez grounded out to second
to end the inning.
Cook finished with a perfect ninth for his second save.
Benny Agbayani led off New York's fourth with a double and moved
to third on Jay Payton's single. McEwing's fly to right field
scored Agbayani. Reed's sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to
second and third, then Johnson walked Mike Bordick to load the bases.
Derek Bell hit a hard grounder right to Womack, but the ball
bounced out of his glove as Payton scored to make it 3-0. Johnson
walked Edgardo Alfonzo to load the bases, then Piazza singled on a
1-2 pitch to drive in two runs and the Big Unit's short night was over.
Game notes
Agbayani left with a bruised left triceps after being hit
by a pitch in the fifth by reliever Russ Springer, who pitched 3
1/3 otherwise perfect innings. ... The Mets are 9-2 in Reed's last
11 starts. ... The shortstop Bordick, acquired last week in a trade
with Baltimore, made a diving stop to rob Gonzalez of a hit to lead
off the fourth.
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