Lee wins 1st, Phils snap road skid by pounding Mets

Flushing, NY – Cliff Lee got off the schneid and into a Gatorade bath.

It was a heck of a way to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Snakebitten for nearly three months, Lee threw eight strong innings Wednesday for his first win of the season while Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz provided the fireworks with back-to-back homers as the Phillies routed the Mets, 9-2.

Lee (1-5) got his first win in his 14th start to end a drought that went back to his final outing of 2011, on Sept. 26. He struck out nine and gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk.

The Phillies had 12 hits and three homers -- Ty Wigginton also went deep -- to rebound from an 11-1 loss in the opener of the three-game series and snap a six-game losing streak. They also ended a seven-game slide on the road.

Chris Young (2-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on five hits in seven innings. Scott Hairston homered for the Mets, who lost for the second time in seven games.

The Phillies won for the first time in Lee's last six starts -- since beating the Mets on May 30.

"I did my job effectively, gave my team a chance to win and we won," said Lee. "To me that's the main thing. That's always what I try to do. Today I was successful."

Lee couldn't dodge fellow starters Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels as they rushed to pour Gatorade on his back during an on-field interview after the game -- a celebration normally fit for something like a perfect game or shutout, not a measly win.

But this was a long time coming.

The lefty threw 86 of his 116 pitches for strikes, dropped his ERA from 4.13 before the game to 3.98 after it, and was pulled out of an early 2-0 hole by his offense after a slow start.

Indeed, the first 10 Phillies were retired in order until Juan Pierre's single in the fourth. Young gave up two hits and faced just one batter over the minimum through six innings before giving up the lead.

Pierre singled again leading off the seventh and Utley followed with a liner over the right-field wall for his second homer since coming off the disabled list last week.

Ruiz homered to left field two pitches later, his 13th, to make it 3-2.

"I just didn't execute a couple pitches and they got away from me," said Young.

The Phillies then pushed their lead to 6-2 in the eighth inning against three relievers after Young came out of the game.

John Mayberry led off with a single against Miguel Batista and Lee moved him up with a sacrifice bunt off Tim Byrdak. Jimmy Rollins scored Mayberry with a ground-rule double, snapping an 0-for-18 drought, and Ruiz and Hunter Pence later hit RBI singles off Jeremy Hefner.

Mayberry scored when Rollins grounded into a fielder's choice in the ninth and Wigginton belted his ninth homer of the season to left for the 9-2 lead.

Earlier, Hairston belted an 0-2 fastball over the left-field wall for his 11th homer of the season and a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. The Mets made it 2-0 after back-to-back-to-back singles from Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy and David Wright in the fifth.

Game Notes

The Phillies will start Hamels (10-4) Thursday against red-hot knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (12-1), who went 5-0 in June with a 0.93 ERA. Both pitchers were named to the NL All-Star team... The Mets fell to 7-4 in the season series. They recalled infielder Jordany Valdespin and right-hander Pedro Beato from Triple-A Buffalo on Thursday, designated lefty Justin Hampson for assignment and optioned righty Jeremy Hefner to Buffalo...The Phillies are 1-4 on a six-game road trip, including a sweep in Miami.