Mets outlast Diamondbacks

NEW YORK -- Endy Chavez threw his arms in the air after the ball left his bat. One of the smallest Mets had just ended a matchup that began as a duel between two big-time pitchers.

Chavez's RBI single in the 13th inning lifted New York over the Arizona Diamondbacks, 1-0, last night, long after standout starters Brandon Webb and Pedro Martínez left the game.

"Championship teams have to win some games like this," Mets second baseman Jose Valentin said. "Sometimes you're going to face a team like today that's playing great baseball. You're going to face a top pitcher like Webb."

Webb and New York's Martínez were as good as advertised, combining to throw 15 scoreless innings. Chavez came through with the big hit against Jason Grimsley (1-2).

Valentin led off the 13th with a double and advanced to third on Ramon Castro's groundout. Chavez then hit a 1-0 pitch into the gap in right-center to end it.

"I just focused [on] a pitch that I can drive to the outfield," said Chavez, "because they were playing in."

Duaner Sanchez (3-0) tossed three scoreless innings for NL East-leading New York, which took two of three in the series.

"It took someone like Pedro to have a game like that against Webb," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. ``You have to tip your hat to them. They pitched well."

Webb is unbeaten this season and was trying to become the majors' first nine-game winner. He tossed seven shutout innings to run his scoreless streak to 25, longest in the big leagues this year. He allowed four hits, struck out five and walked one.

Webb, coming off consecutive shutouts against Atlanta and Cincinnati, lowered his NL-leading ERA to 2.01.

``It was fun. We both pitched well which is, again, what I expected," Webb said. ``We're going out there facing the hitters and not each other."

Martínez, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, matched Webb's effort by giving up five hits in eight shutout innings. The righthander, who has allowed two earned runs in 24 innings, fanned eight and didn't walk a batter.

Highly touted Mets prospect Lastings Milledge had an eventful night in right field in his second major league game. He dropped Johnny Estrada's fly ball in the second, but threw out Craig Counsell trying to take third on Chad Tracy's single in the sixth.

Milledge's perfect throw prevented the Diamondbacks from putting runners on the corners with one out.

``It was an aggressive play, I'd probably do the same thing," Milledge said. ``I knew I had him as soon as I let it go. Everything went smoothly and perfect."