Mets' slim playoff hopes suffer another blow

NEW YORK -- Gary Matthews Jr. hit a long homer and drove in three runs and Jimmy Anderson allowed just four hits in eight innings to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-1 victory over the New York Mets on Monday night.

New York, which blew any comeback hopes by losing two of three in Atlanta last weekend, dropped 4 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves in the NL East.

Most Mets fans abandoned their team on a chilly autumn night. The crowd of 6,315 was the lowest at Shea Stadium since Sept. 17, 1991, when 4,355 came to a game against Montreal.

Anderson (9-17) stopped Pittsburgh's four-game losing streak and didn't allow a runner past second base after the fourth inning. After Rich Loiselle put on the first two runners in the ninth, Scott Sauerbeck finished the five-hitter for his second save.

Matthews put Pittsburgh ahead in the second against Glendon Rusch (8-11) with a two-run homer that cleared the left-field bleachers and was estimated at 447 feet.