After Ejections, Mets Top Cardinals, 6-5

Getting feisty worked for the New York Mets, who ended a four-game losing streak after reliever Turk Wendell and Manager Bobby Valentine got ejected Saturday.

Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals tied a major league rookie record with his eighth home run this month, but Benny Agbayani singled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning to give the Mets a 6-5 victory over the Cardinals at St. Louis.

“It feels a little better than losing,” Valentine said. “I’d like to feel like this more often.”

Wendell was booted for throwing behind Mike Matheny three pitches after giving up a tiebreaking home run to J.D. Drew in the seventh.

“It’s 1 and 1, why would I throw at him?” Wendell said. “When [Rick] Ankiel’s out there and throws the ball everywhere, why not throw him out?”

Valentine was kicked out after protesting that Cardinal reliever Mike James (1-2) should have been ejected for hitting Todd Zeile in his lower back in the 11th. There was one out and a man on third at the time.

“It’s a cheap trick,” Valentine said. “It’s the easiest time to hit a guy. How ironic is it that the guy who didn’t hit anybody got thrown out?”

It was the second consecutive loss in extra innings for James, who gave up a bases-loaded walk to Milton Bradley in a 4-3, 15-inning loss to the Montreal Expos on Thursday.

Desi Relaford singled against James to start the 11th, stole second and took third on a groundout by Mike Piazza. James then hit Zeile, causing a protracted argument from Valentine and bringing several Mets players to the top step of the dugout.

Agbayani, who had been hitless in his first five at-bats, then singled.

Milwaukee 8, Montreal 4--Geoff Jenkins hit three home runs at Milwaukee and Olympic hero Ben Sheets pitched 6 1/3 strong innings for his first major league victory.

Jenkins, who was three for four with six runs batted in, homered in the first, fourth and fifth innings.

Sheets (1-2) gave up two earned runs and seven hits after being recalled from triple-A Indianapolis on Friday. The right-hander who beat Cuba for the gold medal in Sydney last fall made two minor league starts while the Brewers did not need a fifth starter.

Atlanta 3, Arizona 1--Tom Glavine held the Diamondbacks to a run in seven innings to overcome a 12-strikeout performance by Randy Johnson at Phoenix.

Andruw Jones and Quilvio Veras hit solo home runs against Johnson (3-3) to provide the difference.

It was a classic contrast in styles, Glavine the control pitcher who gets players to fly or ground out, and Johnson the power strikeout artist. Both were close to their top form.

Glavine (4-1) gave up five hits in his fourth consecutive victory. He struck out five and walked two before being replaced by Mike Remlinger in the eighth.

San Francisco 5, Chicago 0--Shawn Estes threw seven scoreless innings at San Francisco to help the Giants end a season-high four-game losing streak.

Estes (2-1) gave up five hits, struck out five and walked five before he was replaced by Felix Rodriguez to start the eighth. Rodriguez and Robb Nen combined on two hitless innings of relief.

Jeff Kent had an RBI double in the fifth against Julian Tavarez (2-1), who later blasted the fans.

Angry at being booed, the former Giant referred to fans with a profanity and a term derogatory toward gays.

San Diego 8, Pittsburgh 1--Phil Nevin drove in three runs to back Adam Eaton at San Diego and the Padres won for only the third time in 13 games.

Nevin had an RBI double against Bronson Arroyo (2-2) in a three-run third and hit his fifth homer of the season, a two-run drive in the fourth.

Eaton (3-2) gave up John Vander Wal’s RBI double in the first, then shut down the Pirates. He gave up four hits in seven innings, retiring 13 of the final 14 batters he faced, struck out eight and walked one.

Cincinnati 9, Colorado 4--Elmer Dessens pitched six strong innings and Michael Tucker hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth at Denver to help the Reds to their ninth consecutive road victory.

Dessens (2-1) gave up four runs and eight hits, struck out two and walked three in winning for the first time in four starts and leading the Reds to their fifth consecutive victory.

Houston 6, Florida 4--Wade Miller pitched seven strong innings and Chris Truby hit a go-ahead two-run triple in the sixth for the Astros at Houston.

Miller (4-1) gave up five hits and two runs, walked five and struck out four.