Ordonez, Mets Top Padres

April 29, 1999 / 6:11 PM EDT / CBS/AP

San Diego's failure to throw strikes and inability to retire the New York Mets' weakest hitter cost the Padres a game.

Rey Ordonez tied a career high with three RBIs and Padres pitchers walked 10 batters in New York's 8-5 victory Thursday.

"I wasn't hitting my spots," said Padres starter Woody Williams, who issued six walks. "It was just a bad day on my part. I just didn't do what I had to, and I take full responsibility for how the game turned out today."

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Ordonez, who entered the game hitting .202 with no homers and four RBIs, went 2-for-3 for the Mets, who rallied from a 4-0 deficit for their second straight comeback victory. On Wednesday night, Mike Piazza's two-run homer in the ninth gave New York a 4-3 win.

On Thursday, John Olerud hit his second homer in as many nights, a two-run shot off Williams in the fifth to close the Mets to 5-4.

"We had a lot of baserunners, and we really needed that home run though," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine. "He (Olerud) is a great hitter and I hope the fans in New York appreciated seeing Tony Gwynn and him in this series. They're two of the best hitters in baseball."

In the sixth, Ordonez drove in the tying run with a single off Brian Boehringer (0-1), and pinch-hitter Robin Ventura hit a sacrifice fly to score Roger Cedeno.

Dennis Cook (4-0) pitched a scoreless sixth in relief of starter Bobby Jones, who got into trouble early. John Franco pitched the ninth for his eighth save.

"Forget about wins, I'll take holds," Cook said of his spotless record. "I don't even think about my record and I don't care how many people know how many holds I have just as long as the people in here know I can come in and pitch without blowing a lead for us."

Gwynn went 3-for-5, giving him 2,962 career hits. He raised his average to .420. Gwynn's hit-and-run single set up Wally Joyner's RBI grounder in the first.

The Padres made it 4-0 in the second, keyed by RBI singles from Eri Owens and Gwynn.

Williams then walked Piazza and Brian McRae to lead off the bottom of the second. Both runners came around to score on Ordonez's two-run double under Dave Magadan's glove at third base.

"We had a lot of problems throwing strikes today," said Padres manager Bruce Bochy. "It kills us when we get a four-run lead, and start to fall behind in the count because then we have to start putting them in there and they can hit them out of the park."

Mike Kinkade gave the Mets a 7-5 lead with his first major league home run in the eighth. Later in the inning, Ventura added an RBI single.

Notes: Ordonez has had three RBIs in a game five times in his career, the previous time coming Sept. 15 last season at Houston. ... After going 0-for-7, Williams recorded his first hit of the season with a single in the second inning. ... With a double in the top of the fifth, Gwynn passed Sam Crawford for 23rd on the career hits list.