Fonzy's HR Wins It For Mets

Al Leiter bailed out Edgardo Alfonzo following an error. The Mets second baseman returned the favor with one swing of his bat.

Leiter was hit hard but pitched 8 2-3 innings Saturday night and Alfonzo atoned for a second-inning fielding miscue with a two-run homer that put New York in front as the Mets beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Saturday night.

"I see a guy who's really locked in," Leiter said of Alfonzo. "When he hit that home run, it was a relief."

The second baseman has committed just five errors in 131 games this season.

"He's so good as a fielder and so calm and consistent in his approach," Leiter said. "In that situation my mindset was to make sure a run doesn't score. Kind of like a pick-me-up."

Leiter (11-9) responded with two groundouts, one of them a double play, to end the inning.

The right-hander gave up 11 hits but managed to work around them to earn his first victory since Aug. 12. Armando Benitez struck out Terry Shumpert with runners on first and second to earn his 17th save in 22 opportunities.

"He's an outstanding major league pitcher," Rockies manager Jim Leyland said. "That cutter, he just keeps coming at you. It's hard to hit it hard and keep it fair, because he's got speed on it. We just made too many flyball outs. Al kept throwing cutters inside."

Of the last 11 Rockies retired by Leiter, ten were in the air.

The win coupled with Atlanta's 5-4 loss to Arizona moved the second-place Mets within 3 /2 games of the Braves in the NL East.

With one out in the fifth, Rickey Henderson walked ahead of Alfonzo's 24th homer off Brian Bohanon that put the Mets in front 3-2.

"I've been working on being on time for the ball," Alfonzo said. "You have to be patient with that guy (Bohanon.) It was a good pitch to hit, a fastball."

Alfonzo is hitting .361 (66-for-183) over his last 45 games, including a 6-for-6 performance at Houston last Monday.

Bohanon (11-11) worked eight innings and allowed all four runs on five hits. He also hit two batters and walked three.

"I made two bad pitches," he said. "I felt really good out there. I felt like I was in command of the game. I felt like I could do anything I wanted to do."

Bohanon's complete game was the Rockies' 10th of the year, a club record.

Robin Ventura went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs for New York.

The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the first when Kurt Abbott's single up the middle drove in Neifi Perez.

Abbott almost had another run-scoring hit in the third, but Bohanon, who doubled leading off the inning, was called out at home by umpire Rob Cook after he appeared to get his left foot in ahead of Mike Piazza's tag.

Cook, a vacation callup, worked his first major league game behind the plate.

"I thought I was in there," Bohanon said. "I moved him (Piazza) and he never touched me."

New York tied it in the fourth when Ventura singled in Alfonzo, who led off the inning with a walk.

Shumpert doubled with two outs in the fifth and stole third following a walk to Abbott. Vinny Castilla singled to left to drive in Shumpert and put Colorado in front 2-1.

Ventura hit his 30th homer in the bottom of the eighth, a solo shot, for the final run.

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