FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- Mo Vaughn redeemed himself and helped manager Art Howe reach a milestone.
Vaughn delivered a two-run single to highlight a five-run seventh inning as the New York Mets rallied for a 7-4 victory over the Florida Marlins in the rubber game of their three-game weekend series.
With the triumph, Howe became the 49th manager - and fifth current skipper - to record 1,000 wins.
"The guys had a little toast for me. That was nice," Howe said. "It just shows that I'm getting old."
Vaughn committed two errors, including a costly miscue in the top of the sixth inning. With the game tied, 2-2, and one out, Ivan Rodriguez tried to steal second base. Mets starter Tom Glavine had Rodriguez picked off, but Vaughn threw into center field, allowing Rodriguez to take third. One out later, Alex Gonzalez singled to give the Marlins the lead.
One inning later, the Mets rallied against reliever Vladimir Nunez. Vance Wilson, playing for injured catcher Mike Piazza, hit a leadoff homer on a full count to tie it and Rey Sanchez singled.
"I thought (Nunez) was ready to go," Marlins manager Jeff Torborg said. "After I watched the first couple of warmup pitches, I said, `Oh shoot, oh no, his arm is too low.' ... He had some good pitches in the at-bat to Wilson. Then when he got behind in the count, he went back to throwing low."
"It felt great because he's owned me in my career - a bunch of strikeouts, a couple of broken bats," Wilson said of Nunez. "I finally got a hit against him in spring training this year."
Glavine dropped down a bunt to advance Sanchez, but Nunez slipped on the grass, enabling Glavine to reach safely.
After Michael Tejera relieved, Roberto Alomar sacrificed and Roger Cedeno came through with check-swing RBI infield hit. Ty Wigginton walked to load the bases and Vaughn singled to center to drive in Glavine and Cedeno for a 6-3 lead.
"It's a long season," Vaughn said. "I had an opportunity to help us in a run-producing situation and extend our lead. You're just trying to help your team."
Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who started in left field for the injured Cliff Floyd, capped the inning with a run-scoring fielder's choice.
"I was happy to get the start today," Shinjo said. "I'm ready whenever they call on me."
Glavine (3-1) yielded three runs and eight hits over seven innings for his fourth consecutive solid outing since being rocked in his Mets debut.
Nunez (0-3) blew his third save for Florida, which posted a 6-5 victory on Saturday when New York's Armando Benitez blew his fourth save.
"(If) we finish the games we're supposed to, we'd be over .500 right now," said Vaughn, whose team improved to 8-11.
The Marlins fell to 9-11.
"The key is to put a stop to it and move on," Wilson added. "In this division, we're all going to beat each other up, (so) we need to get the ones we can and not let them slip away."
The Marlins took a 2-0 lead against Glavine in the top of the fifth when Derrek Lee led off with a home run and Juan Pierre rapped a two-out RBI single.
In the bottom of the frame, Glavine got the Mets on the board with a one-out RBI groundout off Josh Beckett. After Alomar struck out but reached first on a wild pitch, Cedeno blooped a single to left field. Gonzalez fired to Beckett at the plate in plenty of time to nail Sanchez, but the ball popped out of the pitcher's glove when he tagged the runner's shoulder.
Torborg lifted Beckett after six innings, even though his starter allowed just three hits while striking out eight.
"I was going to get him earlier," Torborg said. "If his spot came up, we were hitting. ... (But) today he had a great curveball, outstanding changeup, live fastball."
