NATIONAL LEAGUE Trachsel leads Mets past Pirates

He recorded his 16th victory with six solid innings against the Bucs.
NEW YORK (AP) -- What started out as a lost year for Steve Trachsel turned into one of his best.
"I would probably tend to forget about the first part of the season," Trachsel said after earning his career-high 16th victory. "I'm just happy with the way it's gone. I wanted to finish strong, and I was able to do that."
Trachsel (16-10) pitched six solid innings, and Timo Perez had three hits and two RBIs as the New York Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-3 on Wednesday night.
The veteran right-hander was 0-2 with five no-decisions before he earned his first win May 12. Trachsel gradually became one of the few bright spots in a season in which the Mets have lost 92 games and are headed for their second straight last-place finish.
"Steve can be proud of this season," manager Art Howe said. "He's had a great one."
Post consecutive wins
Trachsel allowed two runs and six hits as the Mets won consecutive games for the first time since completing a three-game sweep of Atlanta on Sept. 3. Mike Stanton pitched the ninth for his fifth save.
"The guys scored some runs for me and played solid defense behind me," Trachsel said. "Those are the things you need to win 15 or 16 games."
Trachsel could have a shot at a 17th win if the Mets have to play San Francisco Monday to make up a game postponed by last month's blackout. The Giants might need the game, which Trachsel said he'd probably start, to determine home-field advantage between them and Atlanta for the playoffs.
Perez went 3-for-4 with two doubles for the Mets, who have won just three of their last 11.
"Timo came up big for us," Howe said. "He got the hit that turned out to be the game-winner."
New York got to Jeff D'Amico (9-16) right away, taking a 1-0 lead in the first on Mike Piazza's run-scoring groundout. Danny Garcia's RBI single in the second made it 2-0.
"I had opportunities to get out of those jams and I couldn't get out of them," D'Amico said. "I just couldn't get the last out."
Pirates tie game
Pittsburgh tied it in the third on Jason Kendall's RBI triple and Matt Stairs' run-scoring single.
In the fourth, D'Amico got two quick outs before giving up consecutive singles to Roger Cedeno and Jay Bell and then back-to-back walks to Piazza and Tony Clark, forcing in the go-ahead run. Perez followed with a liner up the middle, allowing Bell and Piazza to score.
"That was a big inning for us," Howe said. "We haven't been able to do that in a while."
The Pirates made it 5-3 in the eighth on Jack Wilson's two-out RBI single.
D'Amico lost for the fourth time in five decisions, allowing five runs and nine hits in five innings.
"He really wasn't very sharp, as he normally is," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said.
The loss gave D'Amico an NL-leading 16 this season, one more than Cincinnati's Danny Graves and San Diego's Brian Lawrence.