Phillips breaks Reds’ single-season home run mark for 2B in victory

CINCINNATI – Brandon Phillips broke the Cincinnati Reds’ record for homers by a second baseman Wednesday, hitting a two-run shot during a 7-0 victory that ended the New York Mets’ five-game winning streak.\nRight-hander Tom Shearn (2-0), a 30-year-old rookie relishing his long-awaited trip to the big leagues, gave up only three hits in six innings to a Mets lineup missing five of its regulars.\nPhillips’ 28th homer in the first inning off John Maine (14-9) surpassed Hall of Famer Joe Morgan’s previous club mark for a second baseman. Phillips also homered in his last at-bat Tuesday night.\nTop hitting prospect Joey Votto homered for his first major league hit, helping the Reds emerge from a five-game losing streak that ended all talk of them sneaking back into contention in September.\nThe Mets headed for home in a good frame of mind.\nThe NL East leaders got swept in a four-game series in Philadelphia last week, letting the Phillies pull within two games. Instead of getting tight, the Mets got on their best run of the season.\nThey won five in a row before their loss Wednesday, putting themselves back in control. The Mets’ best winning streak of the season was built upon a top-to-bottom offensive splurge – 46 runs over a six-game span.\nAfter nearly a week of running the bases nonstop, manager Willie Randolph decided to give some of his regulars a day off. Moises Alou, Shawn Green, Paul Lo Duca and Jose Reyes were out of the starting lineup for a day game following a night game.\nAlso, the Mets were missing first baseman Carlos Delgado, who pulled muscles in his right hip on a swing Tuesday night. Delgado was sent for a precautionary medical test to make sure the injury isn’t serious.\nThe Reds relished a victory that featured Phillips’ noteworthy homer and good showings by two players right out of the minors – an up-and-coming prospect and a 30-something pitcher who fretted that he’d never get this far.\nVotto’s first homer was a hint of things to come. The 23-year-old first baseman is the Reds’ top hitting prospect, winning the Southern League’s MVP last year. He hit a solo homer off the facing of the batter’s eye in center field in the second inning, humbly rounding the bases while looking at the ground.\nTeammates ignored him in the dugout, a traditional hazing for a first homer. Votto grinned as he walked past them, then was surrounded for congratulations. Votto later added a pair of singles.\nEdwin Encarnacion also had three hits and drove in a pair of runs, helping Shearn get another serendipitous victory. The right-hander spent 12 years in the minors – one of them recovering from elbow surgery – and was living in the groundskeeper’s camper at Triple-A Louisville when he got his long-awaited promotion Aug. 26.