Mets get plenty of help from Reds in win

CINCINNATI -- Maybe it was the black jerseys. Maybe it was the opposition, the Cincinnati Bungles. Whatever, the Mets beat the Reds again Tuesday night, buoyed by six unearned runs in an 8-6 decision.

Four Mets -- Daniel Murphy, with three; Justin Turner, David Wright and Jason Pridie with two -- contributed multiple hits before the Mets' bullpen scrambled with Manny Acosta, Ryota Igarashi, Pedro Beato and Tim Byrdak (save) to preserve the win for Jonathon Niese (10-8).

Through four innings, Niese "was making quality pitches -- down in the zone, corner of the plate -- and next thing you know, it was gone," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "I can't accord for it. I don't know what happened."

In a four-run fifth, Cincinnati socked Niese with Edgar Renteria's two-run double and Joey Votto's two-run homer to take a 5-4 lead. "Just one of those innings where it got away," Niese said. But just as suddenly, the Mets summoned a pair of scores on Pridie's double following a third error.

"That was huge, I think. It's a good feeling to answer back right away," said Pridie, who again was filling in for Angel Pagan in center after Pagan's dehydration scare Sunday. "It keeps the momentum going. Sometimes you can lag a little bit, start pressing a little bit when you lose the lead."

The apparently lucky attire, black shirts for a second night after Monday, was the work of equipment manager Kevin Kierst in conjunction with Collins and based, as is their habit, on the recent success.

The follies were wholly the product of the home team, and began right away.

Votto failed to hold Carlos Beltran's line drive in the first inning and the Mets scored twice on Wright's groundout and a Murphy single that ticked off centerfielder Drew Stubbs' glove. In the third, second baseman Brandon Phillips flubbed Jose Reyes' grounder to make way for two more unearned runs, the inning kept alive when a Wright dribbler crept between shortstop Renteria and third baseman Miguel Cairo -- though it was ruled a hit.

After Cincinnati's four-run fifth, Cairo missed a double-play grounder and Mets runners wound up on second and third, setting up Pridie's two-run double, ending Johnny Cueto's (6-4) hard-luck night, even as his ERA shrunk to 1.88.

Only the Mets' two seventh-inning runs were earned, on singles by Murphy and Pagan, making a pinch-hit return.

None of this necessarily answered a question put to Beltran, awaiting an inevitable trade, whether the Mets can hope to remain competitive without him. "Got to wait and see," he said. "I think they can. "We" -- 'we' for now -- "have got some guys here who can come in and do the job."

But any favors offered by opponents, and any help from superstitious clothing, will be more than welcome. Sometimes it seems other forces are at work to the Mets.