Mets 5, Reds 2

Sunday, July 15th 2007, 3:57 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ Jose Reyes homered, Oliver Perez won in his return from the disabled list and the New York Mets got another big hit from Lastings Milledge in a 5-2 victory Sunday over the Cincinnati Reds.

Reyes connected for the second time in the series, helping the Mets take three of four from Cincinnati. The NL East leaders, who have won eight of 10 at home, remained 1 1/2 games ahead of second-place Atlanta.

Adam Dunn knocked out a scoreboard panel with a long home run for Cincinnati, which has lost 14 of 20 on the road.

For the second day in a row, Milledge came through. The talented young outfielder, called up from Triple-A New Orleans on Thursday, doubled home two runs to cap a three-run second inning. On Saturday, he hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning of a 2-1 win.

Milledge also homered and drove in two runs Friday, and dashed around the bases to score the go-ahead run with a nifty slide in Thursday night's victory.

Activated before the game, Perez (8-6) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. He struck out six, winning for the second time in seven starts. He had been sidelined because of a stiff back since his previous start June 26.

Perez walked three, the sixth straight game he's issued at least three free passes. In his first 10 starts, the erratic Perez allowed three or more walks just twice.

Pedro Feliciano pitched the seventh, Aaron Heilman worked the eighth and Billy Wagner got three quick outs for his 20th save in 21 chances.

Reds starter Kyle Lohse (5-11) threw 100 pitches but failed to get out of the fifth. He gave up five runs and six hits in 4 2-3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. In Lohse's previous two starts, he had allowed two runs in 16 innings.

It was the first time in eight games a Reds starter allowed more than three runs.

Reyes hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his sixth of the season, to give the Mets a 5-1 lead. He pumped his fist when the ball cleared the wall in right and rounded second base only steps behind Perez, who had singled ahead of him.

David Wright led off the three-run second for the Mets with a single past a diving Pedro Lopez at shortstop. Carlos Delgado walked on four pitches and Ramon Castro followed with a ground-rule double to center to score Wright. After Brandon Phillips extended fully to snare David Newhan's sharp line drive to second, Milledge doubled to right-center to score Delgado and Castro.

Dunn cracked the scoreboard in the fourth inning. His 460-foot homer hit high off the board in right field and appeared to dent the panel reserved for the Dodgers-Giants score _ a game that hadn't started yet. The panel was fixed before the top of the fifth. It was Dunn's 25th home run of the year.

The Reds pulled to 5-2 in the sixth on three straight singles to start the inning by Norris Hopper, Jeff Conine and Phillips. Perez got Dunn to line out to center and then induced popouts by Edwin Encarnacion and Lopez.

Notes: The Mets scored more than four runs for the fourth time in 12 games this month. ... Mets RHP Jorge Sosa, on the 15-day DL because of a strained left hamstring, will be activated in time to start Monday night at San Diego. Manager Willie Randolph said a corresponding roster move would be announced then. ... It was Military Appreciation Day at Shea Stadium, and four F-18s from the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, S.C., performed a flyover after the national anthem. ... Phillips' second-inning single extended his hitting streak to 11 games. He is batting .375 (18-48) during that stretch.