Once Dontrelle Willis departed, the Mets felt much better about their chances.

David Wright hit a tying triple in the seventh inning and a sacrifice fly in the ninth, driving in all of New York’s runs and giving the Mets a 3-2 victory yesterday over the Florida Marlins after Tom Glavine and Willis went head-to-head in a marquee pitching matchup.

“It was a classic duel,” manager Willie Randolph said.

Wright’s two-run triple off Willis tied the score at 2, and the Mets got hitless relief work from Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner (1-0).

Josh Willingham had a two-run double for the Marlins in the sixth, putting Willis in position to improve his 8-1 record against the Mets. Let down a bit by his defense, he went eight innings but couldn’t hold the lead.

“He’s got so much movement on his ball. He throws so hard. You just try to grind it out and hope for some breaks,” Wright said.

The Mets took both games in a series shortened by Saturday’s rainout and moved to 4-1 for the first time since 1998. New York opened 0-5 last year.

“It’s a complete reversal,” Glavine said. “It’s certainly something we want to continue to do,but we have had some problems last year winning on the road, and that’s something we have to do something about.”

Both starters kissed the corners with precision, as the 40-year-old Glavine matched the 24-year-old Willis pitch for pitch.

“I respect what he does. He definitely paved the way for us left-handers, especially the way he pitches,”Willis said.

With the score tied in the ninth, Carlos Beltran drew a leadoff walk from Carlos Martinez and went to third on Carlos Delgado’s single to right field. Wright followed with a sacrifice fly to medium right,giving him nine RBI. Beltran scored easily, sending the sellout crowd of 55,255 home happy.

Wagner threw a scoreless ninth for his first win with the Mets.

Glavine didn’t give up a hit until Willingham’s bloop single with two outs in the fourth. Willingham was thrown out on the play in a rundown between first and second. Florida put runners at the corners with none out in the fifth, but Glavine induced consecutive popups before fanning Willis to end the threat.

A 22-game winner last year and the runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award, Willis yielded seven hits. He struck out four and did not walk a batter for the young Marlins, who dropped to 1-4.

“After he went out of the ballgame, we knew we were going to have our chances to score some runs,” Beltran said.”And as it turned out, that’s exactly what happened.”

Glavine allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, striking out five and walking two. He is 15-18 in 41 starts against Florida and has not beaten the Marlins since April 20, 2003.

Willis pitched five shutout innings of one-hit ball on opening day in Houston and did not get a decision in a 1-0 loss. Then he had another strong performance yesterday.

“We lost. It don’t matter,” Willis said.

The lefty retired 11 straight before Paul Lo Duca and Beltran opened the seventh with singles.

Shortstop Jose Reyes made an error in the eighth and another in the ninth.