Sports Network | August 22, 2010
Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Jose Tabata hit a solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for a 2-1 win over the New York Mets in the finale of a three-game series at PNC Park.
Lastings Milledge added a solo shot for Pittsburgh, which snapped a five-game slide and won for only the second time in its last 14 games overall.
Zach Duke (6-12) won for the first time since beating Colorado on July 27th. The left-hander went seven innings, surrendering one run on five hits with two walks and fanned five. Joel Hanrahan notched his second save.
Carlos Beltran knocked in the lone run with a sacrifice fly for the Mets, who had won four of six entering the series finale.
Johan Santana (10-8) was the hard-luck loser despite throwing his fourth complete game of the season and 13th of his career. The lefty gave up two runs on four hits, struck out nine and walked a batter over eight innings.
Tied at 1-1, Tabata clubbed a 1-0 changeup into the left field seats with two outs in the sixth to give the Pirates a 2-1 edge.
Duke worked a scoreless seventh and Evan Meek followed suit by working a scoreless eighth inning before Hanrahan took over for the top of the ninth. The right-hander allowed Ike Davis to reach with a leadoff single, but recovered to set down the final three hitters and preserve the victory.
New York plated a first-inning run to grab the early lead. Jose Reyes reached with a bunt single and advanced to second on a throwing error by catcher Ryan Doumit, then stole third with one out before scoring on Beltran's sac fly.
Meanwhile, Santana had not allowed a hit until giving up a leadoff single to Pedro Alvarez to start the fifth. After Doumit bounced into a double play Milledge cracked a solo homer to center that tied the game at 1-1.
Prior to the game, New York assigned catcher Rod Barajas to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a waiver claim and recalled outfielder Jesus Feliciano from Triple- A Buffalo. Feliciano grounded out to second to end the game in a pinch-hitting appearance...The Mets won four of their seven meetings with the Bucs a year ago...Duke improved to 4-1 in seven career starts against the Mets.