Niese sharp, Mets hit three HRs in win over Astros
Photo credit: AP | Mets pitcher Jonathon Niese has recovered from a torn right hamstring suffered last August. (July 25, 2009)
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Mets at Astros
HOUSTON - Jonathon Niese walked into the Mets' clubhouse a little before 4 p.m. Saturday and was greeted by outfielder Cory Sullivan.
"It's your world," Sullivan told him. "We're just living in it."
Little did Sullivan know how true that would turn out to be. Niese, called up before last night's game for his first major-league start since May 13, pitched so well that he brought a sense of calm to the Mets' dysfunctional universe.
For one sublime evening, no one thought about Tony Bernazard's alleged bullying or the rampaging Phillies or Gary Sheffield pushing the Mets' disabled-list total to double digits before the game.
Niese did what Johan Santana couldn't the night before: He stopped the hot Astros cold. Niese allowed one run and four hits in seven innings and the Mets had their biggest offensive explosion in a month in a 10-3 win at Minute Maid Park.
Jeff Francoeur hit a three-run home run and had four RBIs, Omir Santos homered for the second straight night and power-starved David Wright hit a mammoth shot in the ninth. Every Mets position player except Alex Cora had at least one hit. The Mets hadn't scored 10 runs since they beat St. Louis, 11-0, on June 24.
Niese (1-0), the 22-year-old lefthander, continued a stretch of outstanding pitching that began six weeks ago in Triple-A. He was 5-0 with a 0.72 ERA in his last seven starts for Buffalo and earned a call-up when Fernando Nieve tore a thigh muscle while running the bases last Sunday.
"Every time I come back, I try to stay as long as I possibly can,'' Niese said. "I just tried to go back to my Triple-A starts, what I did and how I had success there.''
Manager Jerry Manuel had seemed oddly unimpressed with Niese's Triple-A dominance before Nieve went down. He tried to explain away his lack of excitement before last night's game, saying he wasn't in favor of Niese's promotion because the Mets didn't have a vacancy in their rotation.
But Nieve went down in a heap in Atlanta and Niese got a third bite at the major-league apple. He was 1-1, 7.07 in three starts last September and 0-0, 6.57 in two starts this May. But he was in control against the Astros as the Mets snapped a three-game slide.
"Pitched extremely well,'' Manuel said. "I think the people in the development system ought to be applauded for bringing him along the way they did. He looks like a little bit more polished pitcher than we saw the first two times.''
The Mets gave Niese a 3-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by surprise cleanup hitter Daniel Murphy, a sacrifice fly by Francoeur and an RBI single by Sullivan against Russ Ortiz (3-5).
Niese walked two and threw a wild pitch in the first before Ivan Rodriguez's RBI single brought Houston to within 3-1. But Niese pitched to one over the minimum after that, throwing two double-play balls and walking no one else. He struck out three.
The Mets added a run in the fourth as Sullivan scored on a double-play grounder hit by Cora. They knocked out Ortiz in the fifth and went ahead 7-1 when Francoeur homered off lefthander Tim Byrdak, his seventh of the season and second as a Met.
Francoeur's blast near the foul pole in left was so gone as soon as he hit it that Astros leftfielder Carlos Lee never moved a muscle.
