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Mets try to extend win streak in clash with Marlins

May 11, 2012 - 2:41 PM (Sports Network) - A pair of rolling NL East ballclubs get together tonight for the first of three straight matchups, as the New York Mets resume their road trip against the Miami Marlins.

The Mets rallied in three consecutive games to sweep the division-rival Philadelphia Phillies out of their own ballpark and capped the trifecta with Wednesday's 10-6 victory. Ike Davis highlighted a four-run eighth inning with a three-run homer and Andres Torres also went deep, while Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Scott Hairston all finished with two hits and an RBI to extend the Mets' winning streak to five games.

Wright has reached base safely in 26 of his 28 games.

Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and did not figure into the decision, as he was reached for four runs and 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings. Tim Byrdak recorded the win by getting the final out of the sixth inning.

"We came in and got [the Phillies] at the right time," Mets manager Terry Collins said after his club won for the 10th time in 15 tries. "If something happened and they made a mistake, we capitalized on it."

New York is just one game off the lead in the NL East and will send veteran Johan Santana to the mound Friday in south Florida. Santana, a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner, registered his first win of the season in Saturday's 4-3 victory over Arizona. He allowed three runs and nine hits in a season-best seven innings and struck out five batters with only one walk. The lefty started the year 0-2 with a 2.25 ERA, but is now 1-2 in six total starts with a 2.61 ERA.

The Mets have won each of Santana's last three starts. He faced the Marlins in a 2-1 win on April 24 this season and did not receive a decision with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and a season-best 11 K's. In 10 career starts against the Marlins, Santana is 6-1 with a 1.46 earned run average.

Miami is coming off a franchise-best road trip in which it went 8-1 with sweeps of San Francisco and San Diego. It took two of three meetings in Houston and squeezed out a 5-3 victory in 12 innings on Wednesday.

Omar Infante's two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the 12th inning proved to be the difference. Former Met Jose Reyes had two hits and an RBI and John Buck drove in a run for the Marlins, who are three games behind Washington for the division lead and will also host Pittsburgh on their upcoming five-game homestand.

"I will take every road trip like this with the way we played," said Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen. "The team played good baseball all trip."

Giancarlo Stanton had a hit and a run scored, and owns six home runs and 12 RBI in his last 11 games.

Toeing the rubber for Guillen's ballclub tonight will be first-year Marlin Mark Buehrle. The former Chicago White Sox hurler is 2-4 with a 2.83 ERA in six starts for his new club and ended a personal two-game slide in Saturday's 4-1 triumph at San Diego. Buehrle had been 1-4 in his previous five starts, but went the distance for the first time this season, allowing just a run and five hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

Buehrle will now face the Mets for the second time in his career and this season after he was beaten by them back on April 25. In the 5-1 loss on the road, Buehrle tossed seven decent innings and allowed two crucial runs.

"We've got to come out and throw zeroes to give the offense a chance to get going. When we were playing them [before], we weren't playing well," Buehrle said of tonight's contest. "Hopefully things will turn."

New York swept the three-game series with Miami from April 24-26 and has won five straight in the series.