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| CINCINNATI -- The day might have belonged to Pedro Martinez, but Moises Alou was a living, breathing reminder that a pitcher needs runs to win. The 41-year-old left fielder hit a home run and two doubles and scored three runs to help make Martinez a winner in his first start since last Sept. 27 as the Mets extended their winning streak to four games with a 10-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Monday. The Mets now have eight four-game winning streaks this season. David Wright added a two-run homer and Luis Castillo also had two doubles among three hits to help New York open up a five-game lead over second-place Philadelphia, which lost at Atlanta, and to help Martinez celebrate his 3,000th career strikeout. The right-hander went into the game -- his first since undergoing rotator cuff surgery last Oct. 5 -- needing two strikeouts to become the 15th pitcher to reach 3,000. He officially qualified by getting Scott Hatteberg and pitcher Aaron Harang in the second inning. After the Reds struck for two quick runs against Martinez in the bottom of the first, Alou got New York on the scoreboard by launching Harang's first pitch of the second inning 467 feet to the upper-deck bleachers in left field. The homer was the 11th longest recorded at Great American Ball Park and extended Alou's hitting streak to 10 games, one shy of his season-high 11-game streak he put together in August. Wright gave New York a 3-2 lead in the third by following a walk to Luis Castillo with his 26th homer of the season, an opposite-field shot into the Mets bullpen down the right-field line, also on the first pitch he saw from Harang. Alou's double to lead off the fourth inning led to New York's fourth run. He moved to third on Shawn Green's groundout to first and scored on Paul Lo Duca's sacrifice fly to the wall in left field. |
| QUOTE (Mike Lowell is God @ Sep 3 2007, 09:15 PM) |
| He doesn't look like the same Pedro. His fastball was in the high 80's and he only reached 90 once. His arm slot is way lower than normal. My guess is that his arm slot will return to normal once he throws more inninngs and gets more work in . |
| QUOTE (Mike Lowell is God @ Sep 3 2007, 09:15 PM) |
| He doesn't look like the same Pedro. His fastball was in the high 80's and he only reached 90 once. His arm slot is way lower than normal. My guess is that his arm slot will return to normal once he throws more inninngs and gets more work in . |