Last Night's Action: Praying for Rain

Photograph of Carlos Beltran ducking his head away from blowing dirt and debris during the 7th inning (the game was briefly suspended shortly after) by Julie Jacobson/AP

• Diamondbacks 9, Mets 5: Despite starting off the game in nearly perfect fashion, the Mets still found a way to end it in an undesirable way. Carlos Delgado (two-run single) and David Wright (two-run homer) helped stake John Maine to a 5-1 lead after two innings. But Maine didn't have it (again). The only reason the right-handed starter didn't give the whole lead back is because he needed 101 pitches to get through five innings. When Maine left, the score was 5-3, but Claudio Vargas followed in Maine's footsteps. Then the skies opened up, and when they cleared, Joe Smith was ready to allow a homer to Chris Snyder. Duaner Sanchez didn't want the fans who waited through the 61-minute delay to have any suspense, so he promptly gave up three more runs in the ninth. The Mets have now lost five straight and will send Mike Pelfrey to face Brandon Webb on Wednesday. They probably wouldn't mind some more rain.
• Yankees 3, Athletics 1: The whole Chien-Ming Wang-is-an-ace argument has taken some near fatal hits during the Taiwanese righty's last seven starts. But he turned in a stingy performance Tuesday, allowing one run on seven hits and two walks in 7 1/3 innings against Oakland. Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi singled in runs in the first, but the Yankees couldn't muster anything else off Oakland starter Dana Eveland. Melky Cabrera homered in the ninth for insurance, and Mariano Rivera bounced back from Monday's loss to bag the save.