Delgado's best work ends D-backs' slide

NEW YORK -- There was a sellout crowd Wednesday night at Citi Field.

They came hoping, expecting really, to see Mets ace Matt Harvey turn in another dominating outing, with the D-backs as his latest victim.

Instead, they watched right-hander Randall Delgado outduel Harvey as the D-backs beat the Mets, 5-3, to snap Arizona's season-high five-game losing streak.

"It's been a while, and it feels good," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said.

Delgado (1-2) picked up the first win by a D-backs starting pitcher since Wade Miley won on June 5, a span of 24 starts.

Delgado, who was acquired from the Braves in the Justin Upton deal, made his fourth start for Arizona since being recalled from Triple-A Reno, and three of the four have been very good.

"We saw him last year in Atlanta," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Always had a good arm. This is the best I've seen him pitch. Pounded the zone with strikes. Great changeup, that's something we really haven't seen a lot of."

Meanwhile, Harvey joined a list of aces the D-backs have hung losses on this year, including Adam Wainwright, Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels and Johnny Cueto.

When he's at his best, Delgado keeps his pitches down in the zone, and that's exactly what he did. Even the first run he allowed -- a solo homer by David Wright in the fourth -- was on a low changeup.

"It was down, it was a good pitch," catcher Miguel Montero said of the pitch to Wright. "He's just a great hitter."

One out later in the inning, first baseman Josh Satin smacked an elevated fastball for another homer -- the first of his career -- and the Mets had a 2-0 lead.

Most of the time, that can be enough runs for Harvey, but this was not one of those times.

After being held to just four hits through five innings, the D-backs were finally able to break through in the sixth.

With one out, Montero worked Harvey for a 10-pitch walk, and the effort expended took Harvey's pitch count from 86 to 96 and seemed to take something out of the Mets' ace.

"No doubt," Collins said. "He fought off some decent pitches."

Martin Prado followed with a ground ball through the hole at third.

Harvey then struck out Jason Kubel, and he was one out away from escaping the inning with a lead, but he left a slider up and Cody Ross lifted it into the seats down the left-field line to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 D-backs lead.

"I'm just trying to see something out over the plate and get my foot down early," Ross said. "He's throwing 98 [mph], so you have to get your foot down early and try to see and square it up. Luckily, he threw a slider that sort of started at me and I saw it good and put a good swing on it, and luckily, it had enough distance to get out. Definitely not something I'm sitting on, I'm not up there sitting on a slider."

Heading into the game, the D-backs knew that they would have their hands full with Harvey, so they were hoping to get into the Mets' bullpen sooner rather than later. And there was only one way to do that.

"Our approach against him was to work him and get his pitch count up," Ross said. "That was our goal."

The D-backs finally chased Harvey (7-2) from the game in the seventh, when Tony Campana, who was called up from Triple-A on Wednesday, drew a leadoff walk, Aaron Hill singled and Eric Chavez doubled home Campana.

Harvey wound up throwing 110 pitches, 74 for strikes.

Arizona added another run later in the inning against a pair of Mets relievers to increase its lead to 5-2.

The season-high five runs allowed by Harvey matched the most he's allowed since his third career start, which was last year against San Diego.

Delgado allowed two runs on seven hits and did not walk a batter, striking out a career-high nine over seven innings.

"He gave us seven solid innings, and that's what we needed," Gibson said. "We beat a very good pitcher."

Delgado is a good pitcher, too, when he throws strikes like he did Wednesday.

"I think I had more control," Delgado said. "That's why I was trying to attack the zone."