Leiter Retains Upper Hand on Giants, 2-0

NEW YORK —  Al Leiter was holding the San Francisco Giants scoreless.

The trouble for the New York Mets was that Giant pitcher Livan Hernandez also was not yielding.

Met third baseman Robin Ventura, battling a season-long slump, finally broke through, hitting a run-scoring double in the eighth inning that helped the Mets win, 2-0, Sunday at Shea Stadium.

The Mets, who have a five-game winning streak, moved to within 1 1/2 games of first-place Atlanta, the closest the Mets have been in the National League East race since July 6.

Leiter (13-5) gave up two hits and struck out 12 in eight innings. He retired 19 consecutive batters after Ramon Martinez’s one-out single in the first. He allowed only two other runners, on Jeff Kent’s single in the seventh and Rich Aurilia’s walk in the eighth.

John Franco pitched a hitless ninth for his fourth save in five chances.

The Mets finally broke through after Hernandez (11-9) walked Edgardo Alfonzo on a 3-and-2 pitch leading off the eighth.

After Mike Piazza flied out, Ventura doubled to the fence in the right-center field gap. Alfonzo scored without a throw.

Ventura, on the disabled list from June 14-29 because of a bruised right rotator cuff, had been in a 10-for-48 slump, which had dropped his average to .234.

“I think I feel better at the plate,” he said.

Ventura advanced on Benny Agbayani’s groundout, Lenny Harris was intentionally walked and Mike Bordick lofted a soft single to right, driving in another run and chasing Hernandez.

Hernandez, 3-7 against the Mets, gave up seven hits and four walks in 7 2/3 innings. He retired 10 in a row from the third until the seventh, when Harris, starting at first base for the first time since Sept. 22, 1997, led off with a double.

“I threw my game. I threw a lot of zeros,” Hernandez said. “I put up seven zeros, then two runs score. [Leiter] gave us nothing.”

The Mets have given up only 3.4 runs a game since July 25, and they are 16-3 during that span.

The Mets handed the Giants, who lead the NL West by one game over Arizona, only their third shutout of the season. Met pitchers tied San Francisco for the National League lead with eight shutouts, one behind Boston, the major league leader.