Nieuwenhuis homers twice to help Mets sweep Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The only thing the Mets didn't leave Tropicana Field with after a three-day romp was a disputed no-hitter for R.A. Dickey. What they discovered during their stay, however, should serve them well in winding down the most difficult stretch of their schedule.

Although Johan Santana still showed some side effects from his exhausting June 1 no-hitter, his five serviceable innings were enough of a head start as the Mets again pounded the Rays in a 9-6 victory that completed the three-game sweep.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered twice, including one to open the game, and became only the fourth Met since 1999 to go deep multiple times from the leadoff spot, joining Jose Reyes, Angel Pagan and Rickey Henderson. Jason Bay also went deep for the first time since April 20 and Lucas Duda had three RBIs as the Mets wrapped up a measuring stick of a road trip through Washington, the Bronx and Tampa Bay at 4-5.

"It's not what we wanted, but we finished strong," manager Terry Collins said. "We made it count. You can't look back at the games you should have had. You've got to continue to look ahead, and our guys did."

The Mets arrived here batting .245 as a team and averaging 4.3 runs per game. But facing a Rays pitching staff that had the third-best ERA (3.60) in the American League, they outscored Tampa Bay 29-9 and batted .345 during the sweep. It was the first time the Mets had scored at least nine runs in three straight games since 2006.

"We're not really built to score nine, 10, 11 runs a night," Bay said, "and especially coming off the sweep by the Yankees, where we got the wind sucked out of our sails. But I guess it's that resiliency cliche."

But with the Mets, it's the real deal for a team that looked to be on the ropes after Sunday's walk-off loss in the Bronx.

Ike Davis appeared ticketed for Triple-A Buffalo by the end of this week, but with two more hits and two more RBIs Thursday, he's saved himself. Davis is 8-for-14 with seven RBIs, three extra-base hits and a homer in his last five games. He's now hitting .188.

It also was a pivotal series for Bay, who snapped an 0-for-18 skid with Wednesday's single and took Jeremy Hellickson into the leftfield seats in the second inning Thursday.

"I'm sure that he was relieved to get one because everybody's looking for him to hit the ball out of the ballpark -- that's why they signed him here," Collins said. "So I think it really helped."

Harder to dismiss is Santana's lingering hangover from the no-hitter. Since that night, he's allowed 10 earned runs in 10 innings, and he gave up a pair of hits Thursday with two outs and a runner in scoring position. Previously, Santana had given up only one (1-for-21) all season.

"Overall, I felt good," he said. "I had some command of my fastball, but I threw some changeups that were not there. It was a little bit of everything for me."

Santana (4-3, 3.23), who needed 96 pitches to stick around long enough for the win, hasn't done enough yet to put Collins' mind at ease after the 134-pitch effort in the no-hitter. Collins didn't rule out a dead-arm period after the adrenaline of that historic night, but he insisted his ace is fine physically.

Jon Rauch came up big to bail out Santana in the sixth. Rauch, the goat of Sunday's walk-off loss to the Yankees, entered with the bases loaded and responded by getting two strikeouts and a groundout to preserve a four-run lead.

"That's my best result so far," said Rauch, whose fastball repeatedly hit 93 on the scoreboard. "After the Yankees series, that was huge for us."

Rauch combined with Bobby Parnell and Tim Byrdak to retire nine straight before Miguel Batista faltered in the ninth inning. That required Frank Francisco to finish up, and with two runs in, the bases loaded and the winning run at the plate, he struck out Ben Zobrist, giving him 16 saves.

"We turned a tough road trip into a decent road trip," Collins said. "So it's a good win for us."