NATIONAL LEAGUE Dodgers relief ace Gagne ties record with 43rd-straight save
A Mets baserunning error in the ninth inning helped Los Angeles win Friday's game.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- There is just no stopping Eric Gagne -- especially when the opponent helps him out.
Gagne tied a major league record with his 43rd consecutive save this season as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets 2-1 Friday night.
The All-Star right-hander got a break when pinch-runner Vance Wilson missed a bunt sign and got thrown out in the ninth inning.
Gagne got three outs for his 51st consecutive save overall, three shy of the major league record set by Tom Gordon. Gordon saved 43 straight in the 1998 season.
"It's eventually going to stop at some point, I would think," teammate Ron Coomer said. "But he's one of those guys that just has unbelievable dominating stuff. And when you only face him for an inning, he's that good."
Rough debuts
None of the three batters in the Mets' ninth had ever faced Gagne.
Jason Phillips led off with a single and was replaced on the basepaths by Wilson.
Rookie Ty Wigginton was given the bunt sign, but Wilson took off thinking it was a hit-and-run play -- and Paul Lo Duca threw him out. Gagne then struck out Wigginton and Jeff Duncan.
Manager Art Howe chose Wilson to pinch-run instead of Marco Scutaro because he wanted Scutaro to bat for reliever Dan Wheeler, if it got that far.
"I messed up," Wilson said. "A total of 13 guys played tonight and I made a bonehead play that cost us a game. I've never missed a sign before."
Hideo Nomo (15-9) won his fourth straight start at home, allowing a run and six hits in seven innings, struck out seven and walked three.
Boos
Mike Piazza, booed every time up by the fans who used to cheer his every move with the Dodgers, faced Paul Quantrill in the eighth with the tying run on base, but grounded into his second consecutive double play after striking out his first two times up against Nomo.
"I didn't have a good at-bat. It was the best I've seen Nomo throw in years," Piazza said of his former batterymate. "He had a lot of downward motion. He's throwing well. I'm very impressed. He's always been the type of pitcher who walks a few guys, then bears down and gets you out of the inning."
The Dodgers scored both runs in the fourth against lefty Al Leiter (12-7). Cesar Izturis got an RBI single after Coomer hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to center field.
"I know he wants me to hook a ground ball so I can hit into a double play, and I want to elevate one so I don't hit into one," Coomer said. "He left one out over the plate that he probably thought would just be strike one, and I hit it pretty hard. So it worked out OK."
Mets starter
Leiter, who won four of his previous five decisions, allowed six hits over six innings, struck out five and walked three. New York's starters were 7-0 with a 2.04 ERA over the previous nine games.
"Any loss is tough, but I knew coming into this start, the way Hideo's been throwing this year, that our guys would have a tough time scoring," Leiter said. "Nomo's record, his ERA and all the numbers reflect a guy who's executing a lot of good pitches. So I knew we had to play well-executed winning baseball. And we didn't."
The Mets, who stranded three runners in scoring position in the first five innings, got a run in the seventh when Wigginton led off with his 10th home run.
Singles by Roger Cedeno and Timo Perez put runners at the corners for the Mets with one out in the first, Piazza struck out and Phillips looked at a third strike. Piazza came up again with two on in the third and chased a pitch that bounced at least three feet in front of the plate after Nomo fooled him badly on a couple of offspeed pitches.
Leiter attempted a sacrifice in the fifth with no one out, but popped it up and third baseman Adrian Beltre doubled up Joe McEwing at first. Cedeno singled and stole second, but rookie Jose Reyes struck out.
Jeromy Burnitz, hitting .223 with seven homers and 17 RBIs since the Mets traded him to the Dodgers on July 14, did not play because of some slight groin soreness -- and the fact that he is 3-for-18 lifetime against Leiter.