Perez solid, but Reds win it on walk-off HR in 11th

CINCINNATI - Oliver Perez restored the Mets' starting pitching universe last night. The bullpen threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings after him.

But it all went for nothing when Laynce Nix hit a pinch-hit home run off Manny Acosta in the bottom of the 11th inning for a 3-2 Reds win. Eight of the Reds' 13 wins have come in their last at-bat and they're 3-0 in extra-inning games.

The Mets lost their third straight after an eight-game winning streak. Nix's home run just cleared the leaping try of Jeff Francoeur in rightfield.

The Mets forced the extra innings by tying the game in the sixth on Jose Reyes' double. After that, they went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts with runners in scoring position, including Ike Davis' strikeout to end the top of the 11th with runners on first and second. Davis nearly slammed his bat down in frustration.

The Mets had a terrific opportunity to take the lead in the seventh. Davis led off with a double against lefty Daniel Ray Herrera and moved to third on Francoeur's long fly to right.

But, with the infield in, Rod Barajas popped to second against Mike Lincoln for the second out. Pinch hitter Fernando Tatis then struck out against Arthur Rhodes.

Perez delivered the kind of well-pitched game that Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana could not the previous two days in Philadelphia as the Mets gave up a total of 21 runs.

Perez allowed two runs in six innings and left for a pinch hitter with the score tied at 2. He allowed a leadoff home run to Drew Stubbs in the first and a two-out RBI single to Joey Votto in the fifth.

He was solid the rest of the time, giving up a total of six hits and four walks and striking out four. Much better than his last outing, when Perez gave up three runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Dodgers.

Pitching coach Dan Warthen gave Perez a pass on that one because it was cold and windy at Citi Field. Last night was a perfect weather night in the Queen City, with a game-time temperature of 75 degrees.

"With this type of weather, I don't think there should be any real issues," manager Jerry Manuel said before the game. "It's warm, it's not windy. It's just a good night to pitch."

It was a good night, too, for Reds starter Mike Leake, a former college teammate of Davis who went from Arizona State to the majors without spending a day in the minors.

Leake also gave up two runs in six innings, but only one of his was earned. After Stubbs gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the first, Francoeur tied it with a two-out RBI single in the second.

There would have been no RBI single, however, if Stubbs had caught Davis' routine fly ball to center with two outs. He did not and Davis reached second on the error. The Reds retook the lead on Votto's two-out RBI single under the glove of a diving Reyes. The hit scored Leake, whom Perez had walked in his only unforgivable moment of the evening.

Walking the opposing pitcher didn't work out too well for Santana. He lost 47-year-old Jamie Moyer with the bases loaded before giving up a grand slam to Shane Victorino as part of a nine-run fourth inning. The day before, Pelfrey had allowed six runs in the fourth inning of a 10-0 Mets loss. That's 15 runs in two fourth innings.

But Perez had no fourth-inning trouble. Just a two-out single by Orlando Cabrera.