Santana Hung Out to Dry By Mets Offense, Again

Zach Duke pitched seven effective innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat Santana and the New York Mets 3-1 on Tuesday night.

“You always want to see how you match up against the best,” Duke said. “Johan's numbers don't lie; he's a great pitcher. We just capitalized when we had the opportunities tonight.”
       
Duke (6-4) allowed one run and eight hits to lower his ERA to 2.62. He has allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 11 starts.
       
Santana (7-3) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings for New York, which has lost three of four. The Mets have scored two runs or less in five of Santana's 11 starts.
       
New York again was without All-Star outfielder Carlos Beltran, who is dealing with a stomach virus and stayed at the team hotel.

John Grabow followed Duke with a perfect eighth and Matt Capps retired the Mets in order in the ninth for his 12th save and third in the past four days.
       
Santana retired the first 10 batters of the game but the Pirates seemed to solve him after that, with eight of the next 12 batters reaching against him.
       
“He got a couple pitches up, but we should have enough to overcome that,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “We weren't able to do that.”
       
Jeremy Reed tied a career high with three hits and Luis Castillo had a sacrifice fly for New York.