NEW YORK -- Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back-to-back homers in the fifth inning to support Oliver Perez and lead the New York Mets to an 8-3 victory Sunday over the bumbling Cincinnati Reds.
The Reds batted out of order in the ninth after an earlier double switch, with backup catcher David Ross coming to the plate in the No. 8 spot instead of Corey Patterson. Ross flied out to right. Once Mets manager Willie Randolph informed the umpires of the mistake, the out was charged to Patterson after a prolonged discussion by the umpires, and Ross batted again. This time, he singled.
Reflecting their inconsistent offense, the Mets hadn't hit back-to-back home runs this season before Saturday. They've now done it twice in two days.
Perez (3-3) got his first win since April 19, though the left-hander still had trouble with his command at times.
Reds shortstop Jeff Keppinger had a hit in seven straight at-bats before striking out in the eighth. He went 5-for-5 in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader before adding a single and triple Sunday.
The Mets have had at least 11 hits in four of their last five games. The one exception was a 7-1 loss in Saturday's nightcap, in which they managed just four. They had that many in a three-run first inning Sunday.
Jose Reyes led off with a single, stole second and scored on Luis Castillo's triple.
Castillo ripped a line drive to right-center between Ken Griffey Jr. and Ryan Freel. Griffey pulled up at the last second, while Freel dived unsuccessfully for the ball, which rolled all the way to the wall. Full story
Padres 6, Rockies 1
SAN DIEGO -- All it took for the San Diego Padres to suddenly look alive was to face a pitcher making his big league debut.
Scott Hairston and Khalil Greene homered to spoil Greg Reynolds' first start, leading the Padres over the Colorado Rockies for their first series win in nearly a month.
The Padres have been playing so poorly that their two consecutive wins match their season high, which they've managed only three times. After winning for just the sixth time in 24 games, the Padres (14-24) continue to have the worst record in the majors.
San Diego had lost eight consecutive series before taking two of three from the defending NL champion Rockies. The Padres hadn't won a series since winning two of three on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 11-13.
Reynolds (0-1) and Chris Young (3-3) had been locked in a scoreless duel until Hairston hit Reynolds' first pitch of the sixth inning just a few feet inside the foul pole on the side of the Western Metal Supply Co. brick warehouse in the left-field corner at Petco Park. It was Hairston's fifth.
Giants 4, Phillies 3
SAN FRANCISCO -- Steve Holm entered the game as a defensive replacement at catcher, then delivered the biggest hit of the day.
Holm hit a go-ahead, two-run drive in the seventh inning for his first major league home run, and the San Francisco Giants held on for a 4-3 victory in the rubber game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Holm homered in his first at-bat on the first pitch he saw from J.C. Romero (3-1) after replacing Bengie Molina in the top of the seventh, sending the ball into the seats in left-center. Romero had allowed only one homer in his previous 61 appearances and came in with an 0.63 ERA over his first 17 outings of 2008.
Jack Taschner (2-0) pitched the seventh for the win, Tyler Walker worked a 1-2-3 eighth and Brian Wilson finished for his 11th save in 13 opportunities. San Francisco rallied for its first series win this month in three chances.
The Phillies went ahead 3-2 in the fifth when Pat Burrell hit a sacrifice fly after Ryan Howard's first triple of the year. Howard's hit drove in a run and chased San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez.
Braves-Pirates, ppd.
PITTSBURGH -- The Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates will play a doubleheader Monday after their game was postponed by rain.
The doubleheader will begin at 12:35 p.m. Jair Jurrjens will start the first game for Atlanta against Zach Duke, and Pittsburgh's John Van Benschoten will face Tim Hudson in the nightcap.
Duke and Jurrjens had been the scheduled starters Sunday.
The game was called after a delay of 40 minutes. Light rain in the morning developed into a thunderstorm just before the scheduled 1:35 p.m. start. The tarp was never taken off the field.
