Mets 9, Diamondbacks 5
PHOENIX -- Wilmer Flores hit his first career home run and Andrew Brown also homered to power the New York Mets to a 9-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
Jonathan Niese (4-6) returned from the disabled list and allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings. Niese, who missed nearly two months with a partially torn left rotator cuff, struck out five.
The Mets have won five out of six.
Zeke Spruill (0-2), pitching on nine days' rest, struggled from the outset and allowed five runs -- one earned -- on six hits in three innings. He struck out one and walked two.
Brown's pinch-hit home run off Will Harris in the seventh gave the Mets an 8-4 lead.
Arizona got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Cliff Pennington singled home Gerardo Parra.
But Flores homered with one out in the ninth off Heath Bell, giving him at least one RBI in five straight games and nine RBIs in his first six career games.
Spruill couldn't pitch his way out of trouble in the first.
Juan Lagares reached on a one-out single but was forced at second by Daniel Murphy for the second out. Spruill walked Ike Davis and Flores and appeared safe when Mike Baxter hit a grounder down the first-base line. The ball, however, bounced off the top of Paul Goldchmidt's glove and rolled down the line and all three runners scored.
Baxter came home on a single to left by Anthony Recker to make the score 4-0.
The Diamondbacks got a run back in the first when A.J. Pollock reached on an infield single and scored on a double by Aaron Hill.
The Mets answered in the third as Omar Quintanilla singled home Davis for a 5-1 lead.
Hill again brought Arizona close, hitting a three-run homer to left off Niese to pull Arizona within 5-4. It was Hill's second home run in as many games.
NOTES: The Mets activated Niese off the disabled list before Sunday's game and optioned RHP Jeremy Hefner to Triple-A Las Vegas. ... Hill also homered in consecutive games April 6 and 7 at Milwaukee. ... Diamondbacks LF Cody Ross left the game in the first with an apparent right hamstring injury. Ross stumbled while running out a grounder to third and fell face first just beyond the first-base bag. He rolled onto his back and remained down for several minutes before being taken off the field on a cart. ... Arizona recalled 3B Matt Davidson and LHP Eury de la Rosa from Triple-A Reno before the game and placed 3B Eric Chavez on the 15-day disabled list with unspecified hip and knee injuries.
