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  Tuesday, Sep. 12 7:10pm ET
Mets break out of slide with 10 runs
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

NEW YORK (AP) -- A pregame players-only meeting helped the sliding New York Mets relax.

Benny Agbayani
Benny Agbayani led a Mets offense Tuesday night that woke up from a deep sleep to rout the Brewers.

Benny Agbayani's aggressiveness, Milwaukee's shoddy defense and Bobby J. Jones' efficient pitching got them a much-needed win.

Agbayani hit a solo homer and also scored on his own two-run single as the Mets' bats awoke from their silent September to beat the Milwaukee 10-2 Tuesday night.

"The guys talked before the game about coming out and being aggressive," manager Bobby Valentine said. "They came out and walked the talk."

The Mets scored four runs in the second -- more than they had in 12 of the past 15 games -- aided by backup catcher Tyler Houston's two throwing errors and a two-run single by Agbayani.

New York had scored only 30 runs in losing eight of 10 to open this month and tension was building around the clubhouse. That led to the meeting, which players described as a reminder to have a little fun again.

"It was just a little pep talk," said Jones (9-5), who gave up two runs and seven hits in eight innings to win his fifth straight decision.

Whatever it was, it worked.

Despite the slow September, New York is within two games of first-place Atlanta in the NL East and has a comfortable margin over Arizona for the wild card -- fives games, pending the outcome of Diamondbacks' late game against Los Angeles.

"We don't worry about what Arizona or anyone else is doing," Agbayani said. "We worry about the New York Mets and what we want to accomplish."

Todd Pratt, subbing for the struggling Mike Piazza, walked twice and had an RBI single. Edgardo Alfonzo added a solo homer in the eighth. New York's 10 runs and 13 hits were its since getting 16 hits in a 13-3 win over Randy Johnson and Arizona on Aug. 25.

"It's easy to play when you have the lead," Pratt said. "Guys start relaxing more."

But it was a pair of errors by Houston -- playing for the injured Henry Blanco -- that helped the Mets break through in the second inning against John Snyder (3-9).

"Those are the type of things you don't want to see," Brewers manager Davey Lopes said. "We gave them opportunities and they took advantage."

With runners on first and second and one out, Jones bunted in front of the plate. Houston, starting his first game behind the plate since June 9, picked the ball up, looked toward second before throwing wildly to first for an error, scoring Pratt.

Agbayani followed with a two-run single to center and came around to score after a wild sequence of Milwaukee throws.

Houston fielded Lou Collier's wide throw home from center and tried to nab Agbayani at second. The low throw hit shortstop Mark Loretta's glove and bounded into shallow left-center. Agbayani raced home beating Collier's throw to Snyder, who was covering the plate.

"I started going toward third and saw Cookie (Rojas) waving me in and I kept going," Agbayani said.

Kurt Abbott added an RBI single in the third. The Mets scored two more in the fifth, with their first three-hit frame since the third inning on Sept. 1 at St. Louis -- a span of 93 innings.

Alfonzo led off with a walk and then with one out, Todd Zeile, Jay Payton and Pratt hit consecutive singles, scoring two runs and knocking out Snyder. Agbayani added a solo homer, his 15th, in the seventh.

"We've been talking about aggressive at-bats and aggressive plays for a couple of weeks," Valentine said. "Tonight we made things happen."

The Brewers, who along with the Houston Astros were eliminated from postseason contention, scored in the first on a two-out RBI single by Jeromy Burnitz, and an RBI double by Geoff Jenkins in the third.

"We made some big mistakes in that one inning and things just started snowballing," Burnitz said.

Snyder allowed seven runs -- five earned -- and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings to lose his seventh straight decision.

Game notes
Abbott had been 3-for-32 with runners in scoring position before driving in Zeile with a single in the third inning. ... Mets 3B Robin Ventura returned to the lineup after two days off and singled in his first at-bat, snapping an 0-for-23 stretch. ... Snyder is 0-7 with a 6.13 ERA in 14 starts since June 22. ... Milwaukee's Richie Sexson went 0-for-3 to snap his 12-game hitting streak. ... Mets GM Steve Phillips missed the game to be with his wife, Marni, who gave birth to the couple's third child in the afternoon.
 


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