Dickey's pitching stymies Indians
6/18/2010CLEVELAND - R.A. Dickey won his fifth consecutive start, and the New York Mets stretched their winning streak to seven games by beating the Cleveland Indians 6-4 last night.
Jose Reyes had three hits and scored twice, while rookie Ike Davis drove in two runs for New York.
The surging Mets have won 18 of 23 to go from last place to a half-game behind NL East-leading Atlanta. They have six consecutive road wins for the first time since a six-game run in August, 2008, and have won a team-record eight in a row in interleague play.
The Mets are 8-1 against AL teams entering a three-game Subway Series at Yankee Stadium starting tonight. They took two of three at home May 21-23 from their crosstown rivals.
Dickey (5-0) tied a club record for a Mets starter by winning his first five decisions. Bobby Ojeda (1986), Armando Reynoso (1997), and Kenny Rogers (1999) also did it.
The 35-year-old knuckleballer allowed three runs - two earned - and seven hits over six innings. He struck out seven and walked two in his sixth start since being called up May 19 from Triple-A Buffalo.
Francisco Rodriguez struck out three in the ninth for his 15th save in 18 chances. He fanned Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner with a runner on second to end it.
Reyes' RBI triple in the eighth inning put New York ahead 6-4.
Shin-Soo Choo had three hits for Cleveland, losers of four in a row.
After totaling seven doubles in an 8-4 win Wednesday night, the Mets got six singles in the first inning off Jake Westbrook (4-4) to take a 3-0 lead. It nearly became their fourth five-run inning in four games - during which the Mets got 58 hits and 32 runs.
Davis and Henry Blanco had run-scoring hits around a sacrifice fly by Jeff Francoeur. The rally ended when Chris Carter tried to score from second on a single by Jesus Feliciano, but was thrown out by left fielder Shelley Duncan.
Westbrook might not have yielded any runs if second baseman Luis Valbuena had tagged Reyes on a pickoff play. Westbrook had the Mets' speedy leadoff man nailed, but Valbuena dropped the ball - and appeared to spike Reyes on the right hand.
New York trainer Ray Ramirez went out to check on Reyes, who stayed in the game.