Mets on Braves’ Heels After Beating Cubs, 2-1

If his latest outing was a final audition for a pitching job with the New York Mets, then Octavio Dotel may have won himself a role.

The 23-year-old rookie struck out nine in 7 1/3 strong innings Saturday and Robin Ventura’s tiebreaking homer gave the Mets a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at New York.

“He was fabulous, I can’t say enough about him,” said Met Manager Bobby Valentine, whose team has moved to within half a game of the division-leading Atlanta Braves in the National League East. “I liked his poise. He showed he knows how to get out of trouble, and really grits his teeth when he gets behind in the count.”

Dotel (3-1) gave up only Sammy Sosa’s major league-leading 36th home run in the third inning. He gave up five hits and two walks before striking out Sosa with a runner on second and giving way to Dennis Cook in the eighth.

Armando Benitez pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 14 chances.

Newly acquired veteran starter Kenny Rogers is due in New York today, but Dotel might have cemented his spot in the Met rotation.

“I want to do the best I can to win for this team,” Dotel said. “I don’t feel pressure because I know [the Met coaches] believe in me. Kenny Rogers is a great pitcher, but I have to keep doing my job.”

Edgardo Alfonzo went three for four and homered for the Mets, who have won four in a row.

Philadelphia 4, Atlanta 3--Bobby Abreu hit a go-ahead single in the seventh at Philadelphia as the Phillies sent the Braves to their sixth loss in eight games.

Abreu was three for three with a walk and two runs batted in as the Phillies pulled within 4 1/2 games of the slumping Braves.

Philadelphia trailed, 3-0, in the sixth before Abreu’s RBI single against John Smoltz. That came after Smoltz got upset when plate umpire Bruce Froemming called a ball on an 0-2 pitch to Ron Gant and Gant followed with a single.

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox came out to argue and was ejected for the seventh time this season.

Rico Brogna and Gary Bennett followed with RBI singles. In between, Kevin Jordan singled but center fielder Andruw Jones threw out Gant at the plate.

Philadelphia then went ahead in the seventh on singles by Doug Glanville, Gant and Abreu against Micah Bowie (0-1), who made his major league debut.

Houston 5, San Diego 2--Chris Holt pitched seven strong innings and Jeff Bagwell had three hits, including a run-scoring double, at Houston.

Tony Gwynn of the Padres went two for four and is 13 hits from 3,000 for his career.

St. Louis 10, Colorado 2--Kent Mercker pitched six shutout innings and David Howard went three for five with three RBIs at Denver.

Pittsburgh 7, Montreal 2--Abraham Nunez’s two-run single in the fourth capped a three-run inning at Montreal as the Pirates ended a season-high five-game losing streak.

Florida 4, Milwaukee 1--Dave Berg’s single and two doubles helped produce three runs and Brian Meadows pitched six strong innings for the Marlins at Miami.