Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - R.A. Dickey threw into the seventh and added two hits, a run scored and an RBI at the plate, guiding the Mets to a slim 4-3 victory over the Marlins in the opener of a three-game series.
Francisco Rodriguez nearly blew it in the ninth, putting two on with two outs before getting Hanley Ramirez to bounce out to third baseman David Wright, whose one-hop toss from foul territory beat Ramirez to first to end the game.
Dickey (3-0) threw a solid 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and a pair of walks to earn the win.
Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur each went 2-for-4 and drove in a run for New York, which was coming off a 2-4 road trip.
Anibal Sanchez (5-3) had his four-start win streak snapped, as the right- hander yielded four runs on nine hits and four walks in 5 2/3 frames.
Ramirez and Cameron Maybin and each had an RBI for a Florida club fresh off a 5-5 homestand.
Down 3-2, New York took the lead in the sixth when Francoeur singled to left to plate Wright and Ruben Tejada grounded into a run-scoring fielder's choice.
Mets reliever Elmer Dessens entered with runners on the corners in the seventh and got Ramirez on a foul out to first to end the threat.
Dessens stayed in for a scoreless eighth, and Rodriguez survived his shaky ninth to notch his 11th save of the season.
In the second inning, Cody Ross tripled with two outs and came in on a Maybin base hit for the early lead.
Three straight singles loaded the bases to start the third, and Ramirez hit a grounder to Wright, who got the force out at second while Sanchez scored. Tejada tried to turn the double play, but Ike Davis dropped the ball, allowing Chris Coghlan to come in as well.
Ramirez was thrown out at the plate by center fielder Angel Pagan following a base hit by Jorge Cantu, and the Mets got two back in the bottom half, as Dickey singled home Tejada and scored on Bay's two-out one-hopper to the wall in left-center.
Tejada was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo before the game. The Mets also brought up catcher Omir Santos from Double-A Binghamton, placed second baseman Luis Castillo on the 15-day disabled list with a bruised right heel and designated outfielder Gary Matthews, Jr. for assignment...Dickey has pitched at least six innings in each of his four starts this season...The Marlins had won six of their first seven meetings with the Mets this season...Coghlan had three hits.