PHOENIX — Mission accomplished in Operation Desert Broom.
Either the Mets have begun getting their act together or the Diamondbacks are a complete farce of a baseball team. Whichever the case, the Mets have decided they will keep the wins.
On Wednesday, they used seven shutout innings from Dillon Gee to complete a three-game sweep of these dead snakes with a 5-2 victory in front of 19,673 at Chase Field.
Gee retired the first 14 batters he faced and didn’t allow a runner past second base in rolling to his first victory of the season. For a change Gee didn’t wilt late in the game, and for the first time in four starts pitched a scoreless frame in his final inning of work.
But Gee was tested in the seventh, after Paul Goldschmidt doubled. The next batter, Miguel Montero, hit a shot to deep right that Andrew Brown caught near the top of the fence before Mark Trumbo was retired.
“I’ve got to go out and prove and keep proving I can go deep into the game and maybe I’ll get that leash back,” said Gee, who was removed after 72 pitches. “There’s only one person to blame for me coming out that early, and that’s myself.”
Manager Terry Collins indicated Gee started to get the ball up in the strike zone in the seventh inning.
“They hit the ball hard to third, hit the ball hard to center, hit the ball hard to right,” Collins said. “I just said, ‘Our guys have been pitching good out of the bullpen. Let’s just get out of this road trip and go home.’ ”
The Mets (8-7) added insurance runs in the ninth after Eric Young Jr. raced to third base on pitcher Addison Reed’s throwing error on a routine comebacker. Daniel Murphy slapped an RBI single to center for a run, and David Wright produced another with a run-scoring single in helping the Mets complete a 6-3 road trip that also included stops in Atlanta and Anaheim.
Kyle Farnsworth and Scott Rice combined for a scoreless eighth before Jose Valverde allowed consecutive solo homers to Aaron Hill and Goldschmidt in the ninth. It was Valverde’s first appearance since Saturday, when he surrendered a three-run homer to Raul Ibanez that tied the game for the Angels in the ninth.
The Diamondbacks (4-14) have the worst record in the majors largely because of a pitching staff that had posted a 6.02 ERA. The Mets scored 21 runs in the three games.
“It’s not about when you swing, it’s the damage you do when you swing,” Collins said. “It’s not early in the count necessarily, it’s not deep in counts, it’s when you get a ball you can hit you get it on the barrel of the bat and do damage with it. And that’s what we weren’t doing on the first homestand.”
Gee’s awareness in the sixth helped him escape the inning. Gerardo Parra hit a bloop single to center with two outs, and with second base uncovered kept running. But Gee sprinted from behind the pitcher’s mound to cover the bag and tagged out Parra.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ fourth RBI in two games since arriving gave the Mets a 2-0 lead in the fourth. Brown delivered Ike Davis to third base with a double before Nieuwenhuis produced a sacrifice fly. Davis began the rally with a leadoff single against Brandon McCarthy.
Anthony Recker’s solo homer in the second gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. The blast was Recker’s second in as many plate appearances — his 13th inning home run on Saturday gave the Mets the go-ahead run in a 7-6 victory over the Angels.
“I almost wish we didn’t have [Thursday] off,” Recker said. “Because we’re playing real well.”