Santana Snaps Mets Out of Doldrums

Johan Santana snapped the Mets out of their recent doldrums, pitching seven effective innings to beat the feisty Florida Marlins 5-3 last night.

Fernando Tatis and Ramon Castro each hit a pair of two-out RBI singles for the Mets, who won for only the second time in nine games. One day after embattled manager Willie Randolph kept his job — for now — following a much-publicized meeting with ownership, New York improved to 24-26 with its fifth victory in 15 tries.

Helped by some fine defense, Santana (6-3) worked around eight hits and two walks. He allowed three runs and struck out seven, retiring surging slugger Dan Uggla in three key situations.

Duaner Sanchez pitched a scoreless eighth after yielding a leadoff double. Billy Wagner fanned two in a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances.

Florida starter Andrew Miller (4-4) lasted only 4.2 innings. He gave up four runs and six hits after tossing seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts to beat Arizona in his previous outing.

Cody Ross homered and drove in two runs for the NL East-leading Marlins (30-21), who lost for the fourth time in 11 games.