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.

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

"I had no shot at that one," Francoeur said. "Don't have the greatest vertical in the world."

Eight of the Reds' 13 wins have come in their last at-bat and they're now 3-0 in extra-inning games.

The Mets forced the extra innings by tying it in the sixth on Jose Reyes' RBI 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.

Those were only the sixth and seventh men left on base for the Mets, who have scored two runs in their last 16 innings. "We didn't really leave that many out for this being an extra-inning ballgame," manager Jerry Manuel said. "That tells me we didn't get on base much. The times that we did, we weren't able to come up with the big hit."

Davis (1-for-5) nearly slammed his bat down in frustration. In his previous at-bat, he had struck out in the ninth. "I don't know if that is a characteristic of anxiety that we have never really seen from Ike," Manuel said. "Or is he just not feeling quite right at the plate."

Said Davis: "If I make contact with one of those pitches, I won't be as frustrated . . . I've got to hit a fastball down the plate. So yeah, that's frustrating to me."

The Mets also 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. "Rod's done a great job," Francoeur said. "He couldn't get the job done on that one, but he's been so big for us already. We needed to get more opportunities than just that one."

Especially since they got the kind of well-pitched game from Perez that Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana could not deliver the previous two days in Philadelphia when the Mets gave up a total of 21 runs.

Perez allowed two runs in six innings: 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 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, the game-time temperature was 75 degrees. "With this type of weather, I don't think there should be any real issues," 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.