Coffey, Brewers, rescue a split at Citi

TODD Coffey pitched an eight-out save and Milwaukee rescued the final game of the three-game set, beating the Mets 4-2 on Sunday.

The Mets left another 10 runners on base and batted just 2/10 with men in scoring position as they slipped back to .500 despite a fine effort from Nelson Figueroa.

The Mets took a 1-0 lead on Carlos Delgado's double in the 1st inning, but the Brew Crew plated solo runs in the 3rd, 5th and 6th to turn a 3-1 lead over to the bullpen.

The Mets pulled a run back in the home half of the 7th, but Todd Coffey steadied the sinking Milwaukee ship with 2 2/3 quality innings of work, including working out of an inherited bases-loaded jam.

Figueroa, getting the start in place of Oliver Perez, had the bases loaded himself in the 1st inning on two walks and a hit, but Ryan Braun and JJ Hardy both struck out and Mike Cameron chopped the ball into the dirt to allow Ramon Castro to tag out Rickie Weeks on the force play at home.

Delgado lined a two-out one-hop double off the wall in left centre field to score Daniel Murphy in the bottom of the inning, but Corey Hart scored on Prince Fielder's groundout in the top of the 3rd inning and Corey Hart drove a sac fly to right to bring in pitcher Jeff Suppan who had singled to lead off the 5th.

Former Met Mike Cameron drilled a solo home run over the 16ft wall in centre field in the 6th and the Mets left runners at second and third base in the bottom of the inning.

Jeff Suppan looked like the pitcher of old, but he gave up a leadoff triple to catcher Omir Santos after the 7th inning stretch, and his 99th pitch of the day would be his last.

Mitch Stretter retired Ryan Church on three straight pitches and Jose Reyes drove Santos home with an infield single which shortstop JJ Hardy could not control.

Daniel Murphy flaired a bloop into shallow left field on a desperation inside-out swing and David Wright walked on four sliders to load the bases.

But Carlos Delgado grounded into a 1-2-3 pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play to end the inning, killing what could have been a big Mets inning.

Reliever Todd Coffey induced the fierce one hopper back to the mound but he could not field it cleanly. It bobbled off the tip of his glove, landed in his bare hand and allowed him to get the tying force at home to keep it 3-2.

Shawn Green pitched a scoreless 7th and Pedro Feliciano and Bobby Parnell combined to put a zero on the board in the 8th.

Carlos Beltran singled to centre field to lead off the bottom of the 8th inning and Gary Sheffield walked, but Fernando Tatis struck out swinging and Omir Santos lined into an unassisted double play when he drilled a ball directly at Bill Hall just as the two Mets baserunners took off on a 3-2 count.

The Brewers padded their lead in the 9th inning on a Rickie Weeks single and Coffey worked around another Hardy error to close out the game in the 9th.