ESPN.com NY Mets/St. Louis recap

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Saturday, Apr. 28 2:10pm ET
Mets score three in ninth, one in 11th

RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

ST. LOUIS (AP) – 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.


	Bobby Valentine lost his argument with umpire Ron Kulpa, but Valentine's Mets beat the Cardinals.

Albert Pujols 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 St. Louis Cardinals.

"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 homer 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 St. Louis 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 straight loss in extra innings for James, who gave up a bases-loaded walk to Milton Bradley in a 4-3, 15-inning defeat to Montreal on Thursday.

Desi Relaford singled off 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 brought several Mets players to the top step of the dugout.

Agbayani, who had been hitless in his first five at-bats, followed with a single.

Armando Benitez (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings.

Pujols' eighth-inning shot off John Franco tied him with Kent Hrbek (1982) and Carlos Delgado (1994), and he has one game left this month to break the record.

"I don't hear a lot of people celebrating that right now," manager Tony La Russa said. "Tomorrow we'll reflect on some of the positives."

Pujols left without talking to reporters.

J.D. Drew, Jim Edmonds and Edgar Renteria also homered for St. Louis.

Joe McEwing hit a two-run homer off Gene Stechschulte for his third hit of the game, and pinch-hitter Edgar Alfonzo had a bloop RBI double off Steve Kline to tie it in the ninth. Alfonzo was 0-for-2 as a pinch hitter last year and this was his first appearance this season.

"I can't throw any better pitch than that," Kline said. "He fought it off. He's a tough cookie and he beat me."

Kline, pitching for the fourth straight day, worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th.

Piazza added his third homer in three games for the Mets.

Drew who has 15 hits, including eight homers, hit a 1-1 pitch from Wendell over the center-field wall with one out in the seventh.

Cardinals pitchers hit two batters in Friday night's 9-0 victory and both teams were warned after the second instance, so umpires likely were on alert. Matheny avoided controversy about the pitch thrown behind him.

"I haven't really thought about it too much," Matheny said. "Intentional or not, that happens. Deal with it and play the game."

Edmonds hit a two-run homer off Rick Reed with two outs in the sixth.

Pujols, who entered second in the NL with a .390 average, was 1-for-5 and is batting .379. Two batters after Pujols' homer, Renteria hit his third of the season to make it 5-2.

After giving up Piazza's seventh homer with two outs in the first, Dustin Hermanson didn't allow a runner past second until the seventh when pinch-hitter Lenny Harris' single tied it at 2.

Hermanson allowed two runs and six hits with four strikeouts and a walk.

Reed lasted six innings and allowed two runs and six hits with no walks. He has walked only one in 37 2/3 innings and has a 1.66 ERA in 21 2/3 innings on the road.

Game notes
Hermanson reached behind his back to knock down Rey Ordonez's drive up the middle and threw him out from his knees to end the second. ... Cardinals leadoff hitter Fernando Vina, who has 97 at-bats, walked for only the second time in the seventh. ... The Cardinals have been outscored 56-32 in the first three innings. ... Reed is 5-1 in 11 career appearances against the Cardinals, with the only loss on Aug. 7, 1989, when he played for Pittsburgh.