Helms, Uggla lead Marlins to a 7-5 victory over Mets

Helms, Uggla lead Marlins past Mets

MIAMI — Wes Helms had two of his three RBIs in a five-run first inning, Dan Uggla drove in a pair of runs and the Florida Marlins held on for a 7-5 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night.

Alex Sanabia (5-3) allowed three runs in five innings for the Marlins, who have won three straight.

Leo Nunez got the Marlins out of a jam in the eighth and Clay Hensley pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

With the Marlins leading 6-3 in the eighth, the Mets loaded the bases with one out while facing Jose Veras, who then issued a walk to Josh Thole, forcing in a run. Veras was replaced by Leo Nunez and Chris Carter drove in a run with a groundout to pull the Mets to 6-5. Nick Evans struck out to end the inning.

Uggla had an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to make it 7-5.

Hensley allowed a two-out triple to Carlos Beltran before Uggla made a diving play to his left to retire David Wright for the final out.

The Marlins got off to a quick start, thanks to a wild first by Jonathon Niese (9-10). He walked three, including Mike Stanton with the bases loaded. Helms followed Stanton’s walk with a two-run double and Brad Davis’ RBI groundout made it 5-0. Uggla started the scoring with an RBI single.

The Mets cut the deficit to 5-3 on an RBI single by Jose Reyes, a solo homer by Beltran, and a sacrifice fly by Lucas Duda.

Niese allowed six runs, five hits, and six walks while striking out seven in 5 2-3 innings.

Notes: The Marlins won the season series with the Mets, 12-7 and won all six games at Sun Life Stadium. … Marlins Hanley Ramirez (sore left elbow) and Emilio Bonifacio (hamstring) were held out of the lineup. … Marlins LF Logan Morrison walked in the first inning to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 41 games. Only Mark Teixeira has had a longer streak (42) in the big leagues this season. … Reyes struck out in the first inning ending his streak of 48 plate appearances without a strikeout. … Miami Heat guard Mike Miller threw out the ceremonial first pitch.