Piazza plays first base for first time with Mets

New York — Mike Piazza played first base for the first time as a member of the Mets, when he moved from behind the plate in the ninth inning of New York’s game against Pittsburgh Thursday night.

Piazza, who took grounders before the game, ran out from the dugout to first base and received loud cheers when the position switch was announced over the public address system at Shea Stadium.

Piazza was tested immediately, catching a line-drive off the bat of pinch-hitter Carlos Rivera. He dropped to his knees and stuck his glove up, making the play and the fans cheered loudly.

He also made the last putout, an inning-ending grounder to third that Ty Wigginton fielded and threw to Piazza at first.

The move to first has been talked about for months, and Piazza played the position while rehabbing from a groin injury at Triple-A Norfolk in August. It was the first time Piazza played first in a major-league game since July 26, 1993 with the Dodgers.

Red Sox GM won’t say whether Little will return

Boston — Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein praised Grady Little Thursday but wouldn’t discuss whether the manager would be asked back for next season.

Epstein spoke before the Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles to clinch the AL wild-card berth and Boston’s first trip to the playoffs since 1999.

“Grady’s done a fantastic job,” Epstein said. “We had a lot of unanswered questions coming out of spring training. We had a lot of things that worked on paper that we needed to see in the clubhouse and on the field, and he did a fantastic job juggling those parts.”

Series to be televised in Russia for first time

New York — The World Series will be televised in Russia for the first time ever this year.

The games next month will be televised by SPORT, an over-the-air network that began broadcasts in June, the commissioner’s office said Thursday.