Astros  1    Mets  7

Houston Astros (74-85) at New York Mets (67-92), 7:10 p.m.

Sports Network | October 2, 2009

(Sports Network) - Miguel Tejada will try to extend an 18-game hitting streak tonight in the Houston Astros' opener of a season-ending three-game series with the New York Mets at Citi Field.

Tejada homered and knocked in three runs in last night's 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, giving Houston a split of the four-game series and just its second win in its last 12 road games.

He is batting .429 (30-for-70) over his run with four homers, 13 RBI and 14 runs scored. It is the longest hitting streak for Houston since Willy Taveras' club-best 30-game run in 2006. Tejada, meanwhile, now has 196 hits on the season which is third most by an Astros player in a single season. He needs just two more hits to tie Derek Bell (1998) for second.

Craig Biggio holds Houston's single-season record with 210 hits in 1998.

Tejada is just a .222 career hitter versus the Mets and is 2-for-3 lifetime versus tonight's scheduled pitcher for New York, John Maine.

Maine will close out his injury-plagued season with his 15th start. He has lost three of his last four outings, including Saturday versus the Marlins as the right-hander gave up seven runs over just 4 2/3 innings. Maine fell to 6-6 on the year with a 4.72 earned run average.

The 28-year-old has done well in his first season at new Citi Field, where he is 5-1 with a 2.12 ERA.

In four lifetime starts versus Houston, Maine is 3-1 with a 3.77 ERA.

Maine will look to help New York rebound from a 7-4 loss to Washington on Wednesday that saw the Nationals' Justin Maxwell belt a grand slam off closer Francisco Rodriguez to cap a five-run ninth inning for Washington.

Omir Santos knocked in a pair of runs for the Mets, who have dropped four of five and have posted their highest loss total (92) since dropping 95 games in 2003.

"It's been very tough for us, so we hope that we can get through (this season) and then regroup," lamented Mets manager Jerry Manuel. "That's simply what we gotta do."

New York will face Wandy Rodriguez, who is 2-1 with a 3.47 ERA lifetime versus the Mets.

Rodriguez snapped a two-start losing streak on Sunday versus the Reds, giving up just two runs on nine hits over six innings. He is 14-11 with a 2.97 ERA, giving him his highest win total since notching 10 victories as a rookie in 2005.

New York won two of three over the Astros in Houston back on July 24-26. The Astros make their first-ever trip to Citi Field.