Piazza’s Homer Is Not Enough

New York catcher Mike Piazza hit his 25th home run and went three for three in preparation for his return to Dodger Stadium, but the Mets fell before a three-homer barrage, 11-3, Thursday afternoon.

The win allowed the Chicago Cubs, 11-10 winners at Colorado, to move into a tie with the Mets in the NL wild-card race, and left San Francisco only one game back. It was achieved largely through home runs by Shawon Dunston, Ellis Burks and Jeff Kent.

Dunston’s homer was a three-run pinch-hit shot in the sixth inning, only his second since joining the Giants in a July 23 trade from Cleveland. He has seen little action for the Giants, hitting only .162 heading into Thursday’s game.

Burks, hitting .364 since joining the Giants in a July 31 trade with the Colorado Rockies, hit his 19th homer and added an RBI single. Kent added his 23rd homer of the season.

Bill Mueller added a two-run double for the Giants, who took two out of three games against New York.

The Mets, who have 19 of their remaining 28 games on the road, open a four-game series against the Dodgers tonight.

“From the looks of it, it’s going to be a tight [wild-card] race and it’ll probably go down to the end,” Piazza said. “This was a big series here, and we were unable to mount a consistent offense.”

Danny Darwin (8-10) gave up three runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings for only his second win since June 8, and he drove in his first run of the season for the Giants, who have won five of six. He had lost seven of his previous eight decisions.

Armando Reynoso, who missed the first half of the season while recovering from arm surgery, gave up seven runs on 10 hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings.