MILWAUKEE — R.A. Dickey's knuckleball danced, Luis Castillo's two-run single snapped an untimely skid and Angel Pagan homered to help the New York Mets avoid a sweep with a 10-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.
The Mets battered Milwaukee's shaky bullpen, which allowed eight runs in four innings, to improve to 4-12 in May away from Citi Field.
After the Mets squandered bases-loaded situations in seven previous at-bats in the series, Castillo singled weakly up the middle with two outs in the sixth inning off reliever Jeff Suppan (0-2) to give New York a 4-2 lead. Pagan hit his two-run homer in the seventh and New York added four more runs in the ninth.
Rickie Weeks homered twice for the Brewers, who finished the homestand 4-2.
The 35-year-old Dickey (2-0) was solid again in seven innings, his longest of three starts this season. His only trouble came from Weeks, who hit a leadoff homer and added a two-run shot in the seventh that cut the lead to 6-4.
After career saves leader Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect eighth for the Brewers, New York scored four more in the ninth off rookie reliever Zach Braddock.
Trailing 2-1, Dickey also helped himself at the plate in the fourth with an RBI single against Brewers starter Randy Wolf, whose miserable May finished with a flop as the Brewers remained the majors' worst home team at 8-16 in Miller Park.
Wolf was 2-3 with a 5.50 ERA in six starts in May, and walked five Mets in five innings.
Still, he avoided major damage because New York failed to get the big hit off of him. With the bases loaded in the first, Wolf allowed only a sacrifice fly to David Wright despite two walks in the inning.
Wolf also walked the bases loaded in the third but escaped unscathed.
The Mets were batting .188 with the bases loaded before Castillo stepped to the plate in the sixth. Suppan allowed consecutive one-out singles to Jeff Francoeur and Henry Blanco before Dickey's sacrifice bunt. Jose Reyes was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Castillo came through.
Notes
The Brewers threw 212 pitches in the 3-hour, 28-minute game. … Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez finished the game in a non-save situation. … Weeks led off the game with a homer for the 15th time in his career. … Mets manager Jerry Manuel says there's no role for ineffective LHP Oliver Perez beyond mopup relief. Perez gave up three runs in two innings Saturday night. The organization asked Perez to take a minor-league assignment to work out his struggles, which he declined. Manuel says talks to change his mind are an "ongoing process."