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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- Luis Gonzalez knocked in Jay Bell with the
go-ahead run. If not for a bone-jarring play at the plate, he would
have done it six innings earlier.
Bell scored on Gonzalez's 10th-inning double, which sparked a
four-run outburst against Rick White as the Arizona Diamondbacks
beat the New York Mets 5-1 Saturday night.
|  | | Jay Bell barrels over Mike Piazza in the fourth. Bell, who was out, was trying to score on Luis Gonzalez's fly to center. |
Arizona cut San Francisco's lead in the NL West to 2½ games and
the Mets' wild-card advantage to 4½. The Diamondbacks snapped their
six-game losing streak at Shea Stadium and a four-game skid
overall.
"It's good to win anywhere, believe me," Arizona manager Buck
Showalter said. "We've done a lot of the other."
In the fourth, Bell opened with a triple off the base of the
center-field fence. Gonzalez followed with a fly to medium-center
that Jay Payton caught.
Payton fired a one-hop strike into Mike Piazza's glove as Bell
charged in. Bell struck Piazza in the face with his right forearm,
sending the catcher backward still in possession of the ball.
"Payton's been playing an awesome center field," Gonzalez
said. "He got behind that ball good and we challenged him. He
stepped up and made a good throw. You have to give Piazza credit
because he held on to that ball and took a pretty good blow."
The fans chanted "MVP! MVP!" as Piazza was attended to by the team's trainer and manager Bobby Valentine.
"I'm glad I held on to the ball," Piazza said. "You don't
want to take a hit like that and not get the out. It's just
fortunate I'm not hurt. The thing that hurt was my throat. His
forearm came up in my throat and I bit my tongue a little bit. I
had the plate blocked and I knew he was coming."
Bell hit a ground-rule double to left with one out in the 10th
off White (2-1) before Gonzalez sent a shot over the head of
Payton.
"I made a real bad pitch to Jay Bell," White said. "It was
supposed to be away and it was right in the middle of the plate. He
did what he should do with it."
After Matt Williams lined out, Steve Finley was walked
intentionally. Greg Colbrunn followed with a double that scored
Gonzalez and Finley to make it 4-1. Damian Miller singled in
Colbrunn to finish the scoring.
"Tonight was one of those nights where things definitely did
not go my way," White said. "I threw a lot of fastballs that I
couldn't get off the plate. After I got the first out I was
thinking 'One, two, three and give these guys a chance to win.' "
Dan Plesac (3-0) pitched a perfect ninth for the victory. Matt
Mantei got the final three outs in a non-save situation.
Piazza wasn't rattled too badly as he gave the Mets a 1-0 lead
by hitting Brian Anderson's 1-2 chin-high fastball in the sixth
inning into the left-center field bleachers for his 33rd homer.
Piazza had three of the Mets' five hits and Mike Bordick had the
other two.
"I don't think he was that shaken up," Gonzalez said of
Piazza. "He hit a ball about 430 on a neck-high fastball. If we
did anything, we probably ticked him off."
Anderson was amazed that Piazza could get on top of that pitch,
especially after he fouled a changeup in the dirt on the previous
pitch.
"I guess that's why he gets the money he gets," Anderson said.
Arizona made it 1-all in the seventh on David Dellucci's
pinch-hit RBI single. With two outs, Miller doubled, Danny Bautista
walked and Dellucci hit a soft liner to center.
Bobby J. Jones and Anderson were locked in a duel until Piazza's
homer. Dellucci batted for Anderson, who allowed one run on four
hits in six innings.
"I was excited to pitch today," Anderson said. "The start of
the college football season gives me my second wind. I'm not
kidding you."
Jones, in seven innings, allowed one run and seven hits.
"It was a fun game to be in," Anderson said. "Bobby was
throwing a great game and I was trying to do my part to keep us in
it. "
Game notes
Mets LF Benny Agbayani flied out to center leading off the
first, snapping his streak of reaching base in 10 straight plate
appearances. ... Anderson, the NL leader with a 1.5-walks-per-nine-innings ratio, issued his only two bases on balls in the fourth. ...
Jones is 0-for-33 at the plate this season. ... Williams has not
driven in a run in 34 at-bats. ... Colbrunn is batting .350
(7-for-20) with eight RBI this season against New York, and .328
(66-for-201) with 32 RBI in his career vs. the Mets.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
NY Mets Clubhouse
Rib's OK, so Hampton's set to return to Mets rotation
RECAPS
Tampa Bay 4
Baltimore 1
Baltimore 2
Tampa Bay 0
(2nd game)
NY Yankees 10
Oakland 6
Detroit 8
Minnesota 2
Toronto 9
Texas 3
Boston 5
Kansas City 3
Seattle 11
Chi. White Sox 5
Cleveland 9
Anaheim 5
Chicago Cubs 6
Los Angeles 4
Colorado 11
Pittsburgh 4
Philadelphia 5
San Francisco 2
Cincinnati 3
Florida 2
Montreal 5
Houston 4
St. Louis 6
Atlanta 3
Arizona 5
NY Mets 1
Milwaukee 6
San Diego 5
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