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NEW YORK – The Mets are sinking fast, and Bronson Arroyo kept getting them to beat the ball into the ground.
Arroyo threw a four-hitter for his second career shutout, Joey Votto and Laynce Nix homered off Fernando Nieve and the Cincinnati Reds defeated helpless New York 3-0 Friday night.
“I had kind of a hard changeup that was diving down,” said Arroyo, who got 15 ground-ball outs. “Obviously, having a watered-down lineup helped, too.”
The Mets lost for the sixth time in seven games and 11th in 14, drawing frequent and loud boos from the crowd of 39,203 at Citi Field.
Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are on the disabled list for the Mets, who have gone 12-24 since May and dropped five games under .500 for the first time since an 0-5 start in 2005 under new manager Willie Randolph.
They’ve fallen 6 1/2 games behind first-place Philadelphia.
“Lately we’ve had to play perfect to win each and every game,” David Wright said. “When you don’t score, you can’t win.”
Since Beltran last played June 21, New York has scored three runs or fewer in 13 of 18 games and been shut out five times.
“It becomes difficult to explain it,” manager Jerry Manuel said.
A night after losing to Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Randy Wolf, who had been winless in seven starts, the Mets fell to Arroyo (9-8), who had been 1-5 in seven outings since May. Arroyo struck out five and walked none in his eighth complete game in 211 starts.
His other shutout was a three-hitter against San Francisco on Sept. 5, 2006.
PHILLIES 3, PIRATES 2: Joe Blanton pitched into the eighth inning, and Jayson Werth drove in two runs on the same day he was named to his first All-Star team to lead host Philadelphia.
Blanton (6-4) allowed one run and four hits over 7 1/3 innings.
NL East-leading Philadelphia has won seven of eight, all at home.
Pittsburgh has lost seven of nine.
ASTROS 6, NATIONALS 5: Geoff Blum drove in Miguel Tejada with a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning as Houston rallied after Roy Oswalt was injured.
Oswalt allowed three runs and five hits before leaving in the seventh with numbness in two fingers in his right hand.
DIAMONDBACKS 8, MARLINS 0: All-Star Dan Haren threw his second career shutout, and Felipe Lopez hit a three-run homer for host Arizona.
DODGERS 12, BREWERS 8, 10 inn.: Manny Ramirez tied Mickey Mantle on the career home run chart, and Matt Kemp hit a 10th-inning grand slam and made a fantastic catch for the final out in Milwaukee.
Ramirez’s 536th homer pulled him even with Mantle for 15th place, and the Dodgers rallied against Trevor Hoffman in the ninth.
BRAVES 4, ROCKIES 1: Derek Lowe pitched six strong innings in Denver, and Garrett Anderson and Diory Hernandez hit two-run doubles.
