Overall, only 15 homers have been hit in 10 games at Citi Field, a stark contrast to the 26 that rocketed out of the new Yankee Stadium during the opening six-game homestand.
John Maine (1-2) won for the first time in four starts this season, allowing only an unearned run and one hit in six innings and lowering his ERA from 7.47 to 5.40. Sean Green pitched a hitless seventh, J.J. Putz followed with a one-hit eighth and Francisco Rodriguez finished the two-hitter in a non-save situation.
Jorge Cantu hit an RBI single in the first after left fielder Gary Sheffield dropped Emilio Bonifacio's easy fly ball leading off for a two-base error, the fifth error by Mets outfielders this year. When Sheffield caught consecutive flyouts in the seventh inning, he twice received standing ovations from the crowd of 38,573, which chanted his name.
Florida, which started 11-1, is on its longest losing streak since dropping eight straight from Aug. 15-22, 2007, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Marlins were making their first visit to Citi Field after eliminating the Mets from postseason contention on the final days of the 2007 and 2008 seasons at Shea Stadium.
Hanley Ramirez left after he was hit on the right arm by Maine's pitch in the first inning. The Marlins said X-rays were negative and Ramirez was day to day.
Sanchez, whose ERA rose from 2.50 to 4.13, gave up six runs and eight hits in six innings.
Given a lead, he walked Luis Castillo with one out in the first, allowed Carlos Beltran's single and consecutive RBI singles to Sheffield and Wright, who had gone 1-for-12 with no RBIs and six strikeouts in the weekend series against Washington.
Santos, who made his big league debut with Baltimore last Sept. 5, was in his 28th career at-bat and became just the third player to hit a slam for his first big league homer while with the Mets, following Jack Hamilton and Jose Reyes.
Wright tripled off the center-field wall in the eighth against Renyel Pinto and scored on Ryan Church's sacrifice fly.
Notes: Hamilton connected off the Cardinals' Al Jackson on May 20, 1967, and Reyes off the Angels' Jarrod Washburn on June 15, 2003.
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