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  Tuesday, Sep. 5 7:05pm ET
Mets end four-game losing streak
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

CINCINNATI (AP) -- The New York Mets exchanged exuberant high-fives on the field, then headed for the clubhouse and celebrated some more. The prolonged laughs and whistles said this wasn't just another win.

Todd Zeile was not sure his 10th-inning shot was going to clear the left-field wall Tuesday, but it did, giving the Mets a 3-2 win over the Reds.

For once, the Mets were celebrating a last-inning homer instead of lamenting one.

Todd Zeile's solo shot in the 10th inning gave New York a 3-2 victory Tuesday night over the Cincinnati Reds and snapped the Mets' excruciating four-game losing streak.

After losing all three games over the weekend in St. Louis by one run in the final at-bat -- two of them on homers by Jim Edmonds -- the Mets survived another close call and turned the trend.

"I'm sure when we were going into the ninth and 10th, a lot of guys were thinking, 'Oh, geez,' " Turk Wendell said. "It did cross my mind."

Wendell (7-4) made the Mets think, "Oh, no!" for a second in the bottom of the ninth, when he went to a 1-2 count on Ken Griffey Jr. and left a fastball over the plate.

Griffey hit it a long way but never left the box, craning his neck sideways as he watched it hook foul before landing in the second deck in right field.

"To me, it looked like it went foul by a foot, maybe less," said Wendell, who hopped from the mound and drifted toward the foul line as he watched the ball hook.

Given the reprieve, Wendell struck him out with a slider. A few minutes later, the Mets' turnaround was complete, keeping them one game behind Atlanta in the NL East.

Zeile's 18th homer off Scott Sullivan (2-6) barely cleared the wall in left-center and gave the Mets a good feeling for a change.

"It was a long time coming, really," said Zeile, who was only 2-for-12 on the trip before the homer. "I wasn't sure it was going to go out."

Sullivan figured the line drive was going beyond the wall, one way or another.

"The ball was carrying well to the gaps tonight, but that was an absolute rocket," Sullivan said. "He squared it up pretty well. If that ball hadn't gone over the fence, it might've gone through it."

Armando Benitez pitched the 10th for his 37th save, one shy of John Franco's team record from 1998.

The Reds fell 10 games behind St. Louis in the NL Central for the first time since July 5, matching their biggest deficit of the season.

Rick Reed, who got the Mets' only win in their six previous games, turned a 2-1 lead over to the bullpen in the seventh and watched it quickly slip away.

Rick White, who gave up Edmonds' 11th-inning homer in St. Louis on Sunday, relieved with a runner on second and gave up Chris Stynes' two-out single that tied it.

Reed and Pete Harnisch kept it close through seven innings by avoiding big innings -- neither team scored more than one run at a time, and neither starter wound up with a decision.

There was nothing remarkable about another low-scoring game for the Mets, who have been in a deep slump.

Run-scoring singles by Benny Agbayani in the third and Zeile in the fourth put the Mets up 2-0, but they failed to get another runner to second until Zeile rounded the bases in the 10th.

The Reds got their first run off Reed with a little hustle. Chris Sexton stretched a hit to right-center into a double to open the fifth and scored on Pokey Reese's two-out single, only the Reds' fourth hit to that point.

Reed pumped his fist and twice pounded it into his glove after Sexton flew out to the warning track in right field with two runners aboard in the sixth, preserving the 2-1 lead. He slowly walked off the field with head down after White was summoned in the seventh.

Two batters later, Stynes tied it with his soft liner to left.

Harnisch, who took a liner off his leg in the third inning last Thursday during a start in Atlanta, held the Mets to four hits in seven innings and ran hard in all three plate appearances.

Game notes
The Mets called up utility player Joe McEwing from Triple-A. Norfolk coach Howie Freiling also joined the Mets. ... Reed threw 100 pitches. ... Reds SS Barry Larkin will have arthroscopic surgery to clean out his left knee Friday and most likely will miss the rest of the season. ... C Eddie Taubensee, also will have surgery Friday for a bulging disc in his back. ... The Reds called up INF Brooks Kieschnick and RHP Keith Glauber from Triple-A Louisville.
 


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