Milwaukee, WI (Best E Casino) - Ryan Church set the tone with a grand slam in the first inning and New York went on to beat Milwaukee, 9-2, to complete a three-game sweep at Miller Park.
Brian Schneider added a solo homer for the Mets, who have won four straight games and now lead the NL East by three games over Philadelphia. The Phillies, who lost to Washington, 9-7, Wednesday night, will travel to Shea Stadium to face the Mets in a three-game set beginning Friday.
"We have played good baseball for a long period of time," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. "We have to continue that until there are no more games. It's very encouraging to come in here and win three games."
Oliver Perez (10-7) surrendered just two runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts in 6 2/3 solid innings to earn the win.
"I walked too many but the important thing is I made good pitches when I needed them and never lost my focus," Perez said.
J.J. Hardy had a solo home run for the Brewers, who lead the NL wild card race by 4 1/2 games over Philadelphia.
Dave Bush (9-10) allowed six runs -- all in the first inning -- on seven hits in five innings en route to the loss.
The Mets jumped all over Bush with six runs in the first. Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Carlos Delgado started things with consecutive one-out singles to make it a 1-0 game. After Carlos Beltran walked to load the bases, Church turned on a Bush offering and deposited it over the wall in right for his second career grand slam. The Mets weren't done, however. After Luis Castillo bounced back to the box, Schneider ripped his seventh homer of the year to cap the frame.
"It's always important to score a lot of runs early and take the momentum," Church said.
The Brewers finally got to Perez in the sixth when Gabe Kapler ripped a ground-rule double to center and came around to score on Corey Hart's one-out, two-bagger.
Hardy's two-out solo homer in the seventh inning made it a 6-2 game.
The Mets put things away with two runs off the Brewers bullpen in the eighth. Beltran worked a walk off Mitch Stetter and moved to second on Castillo's one- out walk. After pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis popped out, New York executed a double-steal. Nick Evans, another pinch-hitter, then came through with a big two-run single to put the game well out of reach at 8-2.
Wright's sacrifice fly in the ninth accounted for the final margin.
"After the six-run first inning, Bush settled down from there," Brewers manger Ned Yost said. "But, it's difficult to battle back. I kept thinking we were just a swing or two way from getting in it."
Game Notes
Reyes was 1-for-4 with a triple, his big league-leading 18th of the year...Alcides Escobar singled to left in his first major league at-bat in the ninth...Delgado has 46 RBI in his last 45 games...Milwaukee's CC Sabathia was named NL pitcher of the month for the second consecutive month in August.
