Diamondbacks hand Mets' Harvey a rare loss

NEW YORK -- For the second time in three nights, Cody Ross hit a go-ahead home run Wednesday at a time when he's usually on his way back home or to the hotel. But unlike Monday, the Arizona Diamondbacks scored the insurance runs necessary to ensure they'd walk off the field winners after midnight.

Ross hit a three-run homer off New York Mets ace Matt Harvey in the sixth inning, and Arizona scored twice more off Harvey in the seventh before hanging on for a 5-3 win at Citi Field.

The game was delayed at the start by a rain delay of one hour and 51 minutes and ended at 12:18 a.m., six minutes earlier than the conclusion of Monday night's 13-inning game.

"Of course it's after midnight, isn't it?" Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said with a grin as reporters walked into his office.

Gibson and the Diamondbacks were in a far better mood than 48 hours earlier, when Ross hit a solo homer in the top of the 13th -- at 12:01 a.m. -- before the Mets scored twice in the bottom of the inning to win 5-4.

"12 o'clock, 1 o'clock (homers)," Ross said with a grin. "I don't know if I've ever done that."

The win snapped a five-game losing streak and ensured Arizona (43-41) would head home after Thursday's series finale with a winning record and in sole possession of first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks, who are 2-7 in the first nine games of the 10-game road trip, lead the NL West by 2 1/2 games over the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers.

"Obviously it's been a tough stretch for us, this road trip," Ross said. "We're all still upbeat and have a ton of energy. Tonight was a perfect example of that, facing one of the best pitchers in the game."

The Diamondbacks appeared headed for another loss when they squandered a bases-loaded opportunity against Harvey in the first and fell behind 2-0 in the fourth on solo homers by David Wright and Josh Satin.

"When we got the bases loaded with one out, I thought it was a chance to get a couple runs," said Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero, who had two hits and reached base four times in five plate appearances. "And then he started cruising after that. He's a good pitcher. You've got to take advantage when the opportunity shows."

Montero created an opportunity for the Diamondbacks in the sixth when he worked a one-out, 10-pitch walk off Harvey, who had retired 14 of the previous 17 batters.

Martin Prado, who hit into the inning-ending double play in the first, followed with a single before Harvey struck out Jason Kubel for the third time. Ross followed, at 10:45, by hitting a 1-0 pitch a few feet over the left field fence.

As the ball left the park, Harvey took off his cap in disgust and wiped his brow.

"'Miggy' had a really good effort at the plate," Gibson said. "He started the whole thing with a walk."

Harvey came out for the seventh despite having already thrown 100 pitches. He allowed all three Diamondbacks he faced to reach base via a walk to Tony Campana, a bloop single to Aaron Hill and an RBI double by Eric Chavez.

Reliever Scott Rice gave up a sacrifice fly to Montero and consecutive walks to Prado and Kubel to load the bases. David Aardsma limited the damage by retiring Ross on a popup to first and striking out Cliff Pennington.

It was the worst start of a brilliant season for Harvey (7-2), who saw his ERA rise from 2.00 to 2.27 after he allowed five runs on nine hits and three walks while striking out nine over six-plus innings.

The five runs tied a career high, set last Aug. 5 against the Padres, and the three walks tied a season high. The nine hits were one shy of his season high.

"It was all about command tonight -- he just didn't have command of his stuff, a lot of deep counts," Mets manager Terry Collins said of Harvey. "We've seen him pitch a lot better, that's for sure."

While Harvey endured a rare hiccup, Arizona starter Randall Delgado (1-2) enjoyed one of his finest starts as a big-leaguer. Delgado allowed two runs on seven hits and no walks while striking out a career-high nine over seven innings. It was only the fourth time in 28 starts that Delgado has thrown at least seven innings, as well as the fourth time he hasn't issued a walk.

"(He) was in command all night," Gibson said. "Gave us seven solid innings. That's what we needed."

Daniel Murphy homered off David Hernandez in the eighth, but Heath Bell recorded his 15th save with a one-hit ninth.

"We had a little bit of a cushion, and it still worked out for us," Gibson said.

Chavez and Hill each had two hits for the Diamondbacks. Wright, Murphy and Eric Young had two hits apiece for New York.

NOTES: The game drew a fireworks-night sellout crowd of 41,257. ... It wasn't raining yet at the scheduled first pitch time of 7:10, but it began pouring minutes later. ... Mets RHP Shaun Marcum, who complained of tingling in his fingers during his start Monday night, remains on track to start against the Brewers on Saturday. Marcum underwent an MRI during the game Tuesday, about 24 hours after he was captured motioning to his neck and right shoulder by the SNY cameras. The MRI came back clean but Collins said he'll likely have Carlos Torres available as a long reliever or emergency starter for Saturday. ... Mets SS Ruben Tejada, who has been on the disabled list since May 30 with a right quad strain, played his second rehab game for Triple-A Las Vegas on Wednesday. ... The Diamondbacks placed INF Willie Bloomquist on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 27, with a left hand contusion and recalled Campana from Triple-A Reno. Bloomquist hasn't played since he was hit in the hand by a pitch last Wednesday night. ... Gibson said he still wasn't sure who would start for Arizona in the opener of its three-game series against Colorado on Friday night. Whoever starts will be taking the place of RHP Trevor Cahill, who went on the disabled list Monday with a right hip contusion.