MIAMI (AP) – Carlos Delgado ended a long power drought with two home runs and five RBIs, giving John Maine plenty of support and leading the New York Mets past the Florida Marlins 7-2 on Saturday night.

Mr. Delgado hit his first home run in 47 at-bats in the third inning, added a three-run shot in the fifth for his first multi-homer game since Aug. 22 and scored three times to help New York move a season-high 3 1/2 games ahead of Atlanta in the NL East.

Endy Chavez had three hits and David Wright scored twice for the Mets, while Maine (6-2) – who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning at Florida on April 18 – allowed two runs and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts in six innings for his first win in four starts.

Alfredo Amezaga and Miguel Olivo each had two hits and an RBI for Florida, which lost to the Mets at home for the sixth straight time.

Mr. Delgado was batting .209 when Mets manager Willie Randolph dropped him from the cleanup spot before Wednesday’s game in Atlanta, but has gone 8-for-16 since to raise that average to .235 – with five hits in the No. 5 spot in the first two games of this series.

He led off the second with a single and scored three batters later on a RBI groundout by Carlos Gomez, who the Mets started in right field because Shawn Green broke his foot Friday night. That run put the Mets up 2-0, but came at a price; Gomez strained his left hamstring on the play and left the game.

Florida got within 2-1 when Mr. Olivo’s single drove in Josh Willingham in the bottom of the second, but Mr. Delgado blew the game open with a pair of home runs – his fourth and fifth of the season – that sailed a combined 878 feet to center field off Marlins starter Wes Obermueller (1-3).

Mr. Maine cruised through his night, retiring five straight Marlins by strikeout at one point. Obermueller, however, allowed at least one baserunner in each of his four-plus innings, giving up eight hits and seven earned runs to see his ERA jump from 3.71 to 5.28.