Razing Arizona: Mets earn sweep of reeling D-Backs

PHOENIX (AP) -- The New York Mets' weekend series with Arizona was billed as a showdown between first-place teams.

It turned out to be a showcase for the Mets, who completed a four-game sweep with a 15-2 rout Sunday, knocking the Diamondbacks out of the NL West lead.

"It's a big-time sweep," said Met manager Willie Randolph, whose team won its fifth straight game and 39th overall, most in the NL. "We've done a great job this year of winning series. Every once in a while it's nice to sweep it and go four in a row. That's even sweeter."

Elias Says

The Mets posted a 15-2 win at Arizona without the aid of a home run. No team had scored that many runs in a game in which it didn't homer since Seattle did it in a 16-6 win at Anaheim on Sept. 22, 2004. No National League team had scored 15 runs in a game without a big fly since the Giants did it on April 9, 2003 (15-11 over the Padres at San Francisco). The Mets matched their franchise record for runs in a game in which they were homerless (15-6 over the Giants on Aug. 27, 1997 at Shea Stadium). • For more Elias Says, Click here

Carlos Beltran drove in four runs and Carlos Delgado had three RBI as the Mets scored a season-high 15 runs. The Mets batted around in the fourth and fifth innings to chase Arizona starter Russ Ortiz (0-5).

Everything the Mets hit seemed to find a hole. New York went 11-for-25 with runners in scoring position.

"It's kind of like it's contagious when you start hitting good," said Delgado, who had two doubles and a single.

No Met has been hotter than Beltran, who went 9-for-17 in the series with three doubles, three homers and 10 RBI. On Sunday, Beltran singled, doubled and stole a base.

Beltran scored 10 runs in the series. Arizona scored nine.

New York starter Pedro Martinez (6-2) allowed one run in five innings to earn his first victory since April 28.

The Mets improved to 6-1 on their 10-game road trip. New York takes a 6 1-2-game lead into a three-game series at second-place Philadelphia Tuesday night. It's the Mets' largest lead in the NL East since they were up by seven games April 29.

New York has won 10 straight games at Chase Field. In the last two years here, the Mets have blitzed Arizona by a combined 76-16.

No wonder the Diamondbacks were thrilled to see the Mets go.

"They took it to us in every facet of the game," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "That's a heckuva team over there."

Arizona lost its seventh straight game and fell a game behind Los Angeles. The Diamondbacks are 0-6 since learning that federal agents had searched Jason Grimsley's home Tuesday in an investigation into performance-enhancing drugs. The team released the reliever Wednesday and doesn't want to pay him the remainder of his $825,000 salary.

The Diamondbacks haven't led since the first news reports about Grimsley surfaced early in Tuesday night's game against Philadelphia.

"There were some things going on," Melvin said. "We're not going to have that as an excuse. We just got beat by this team."

Melvin called a 20-minute team meeting afterward. Neither he nor the players would divulge what was said.

"There's three-and-a-half months left," first baseman Conor Jackson said. "There's no panic button."

The Diamondbacks have been outscored 14-1 in the first inning of their last six games. They trailed after three batters Sunday afternoon.

Ortiz walked leadoff man Jose Reyes after getting ahead 1-2. Reyes stole second, took third on Endy Chavez' bunt single and scored on second baseman Orlando Hudson's fielding error.

Two outs later, Chris Woodward slapped an 0-2 pitch down the first base line for a double to put the Mets up 3-0.

In the bottom of the inning, a Diamondbacks threat ended when New York right fielder Endy Chavez threw out Craig Counsell trying to score on Chad Tracy's fly ball.

After leaving the bases loaded in the third, the Mets knocked Ortiz out in the fourth. Reyes and Chavez drew one-out walks and scored on Beltran's double to right field to make it 5-0 New York.

RBI doubles by Delgado and David Wright gave the Mets a 7-0 lead and chased Ortiz, who went 3 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs, seven hits and four walks.

Ortiz, who is in the second year of a four-year, $33-million contract, is 1-14 in his last 19 starts over the last two seasons. "I don't see any reason why I should be struggling," said Ortiz, who recently spent time on the disabled list with a calf injury. "There's no excuses. I've just got to get the job done."

Melvin was noncommittal about whether Ortiz would remain in the rotation.

The Mets added six runs in the fifth on RBI singles by Beltran and Ramon Castro, a two-run double by Delgado and a two-run triple by Lastings Milledge.

The Diamondbacks have rallied from huge deficits several times this year, but 13-0 was too much, especially against Martinez.

"Good team behind me, getting a lot of run support, after that I just threw strikes," Martinez said. "I pretty much battled my way through but I managed to throw strikes and I got five innings in."

Game notes
Mets SS Jose Reyes stole two bases. He has 119 career steals, fifth place on the Mets' all-time list. Reyes' 27 steals this season leads the NL and is tied with Baltimore's Corey Patterson for most in the majors. ... Martinez, who opened the season 5-0, broke a string of seven starts without a victory. He is 3-1 lifetime with a 1.36 ERA against Arizona. ... ... OF Eli Marrero made his Mets debut as a pinch-hitter for Beltran in the sixth. He collected his first hit, a double, and RBI in the eighth inning.