Mets Stay Alive With a 3-2 Win

For nearly weeks, nothing went the New York Mets’ way. That all changed for at least one night.

Slumping Robin Ventura homered in the fourth inning and hit a bases-loaded single in the 11th Friday night to help the skidding Mets to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at New York.

“We’re hanging by the skin of our teeth,” Ventura said of the Mets, who have won two of 10. “But we’ll just keep showing up and see what happens.”

Mike Piazza also homered for the Mets, whose recent slide has seen them go from four games up in the National League wild-card race with 12 games remaining to two back heading into their final series.

To make the postseason for the first time since 1988, the Mets will need a near miracle. It started Friday night with the Mets’ win, the Houston Astros’ 5-1 loss to the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds’ 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

“It’s happening. It’s all happening,” Met Manager Bobby Valentine said. “We finally got some breaks.”

The Mets must either win the final two games against Pittsburgh while the Astros or Reds lose once, or win once and hope Houston or Cincinnati drops its last two, forcing a one-game playoff.

If there is a three-way tie, the Mets would earn the wild card, and the Reds and Astros would play one game for the National League Central title.

Chicago 3, St. Louis 2--Neither Mark McGwire nor Sammy Sosa came close to a home run at St. Louis.

McGwire, who has stressed throughout the two years of his home-run duel with Sosa that the emphasis should be on the team rather than the individual, said beforehand that he was surprised to hear that Fox was nationally televising today’s otherwise meaningless game between the Cardinals and Cubs.

“I was definitely surprised,” he said. “There are a lot more important games going on. When you’ve got teams . . . fighting for the playoffs, that’s what I would promote. I really don’t understand it. Baseball is all about team, not individual.”

Milwaukee 4, Cincinnati 3--The Reds couldn’t hold a three-run lead at Milwaukee, where Ron Belliard’s RBI single scored Mark Loretta in the 10th inning.

San Diego 6, Arizona 1--Even with the loss at Phoenix, the Diamondbacks clinched the home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

San Francisco 9, Colorado 4--Jay Canizaro drove in a career-high four runs and J.T. Snow homered and had three runs batted in at Denver.

Atlanta 4, Florida 1--John Smoltz, in his final tuneup before the playoffs, pitched seven strong innings and struck out a season-high 11 at Atlanta.

Montreal 7, Philadelphia 4--Vladimir Guerrero set Expo records for home runs and RBIs, hitting a two-run homer and driving in three runs at Philadelphia. With 39 homers and 124 RBIs, Guerrero topped the home run record he set last season and topped the RBI mark of Tim Wallach, who had 123 in 1987.

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Staff Writer Ross Newhan contributed to this story.