Mets top Giants as deGrom shines

Jacob deGrom pitched eight strong innings and Wilmer Flores hit a home run and drove in two runs as the New York Mets defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-2 on Saturday.

DeGrom (7-3) struck out seven and allowed one run while scattering four hits to lead the Mets to their second win in a row after they had lost four straight and seven of eight entering the series. It was also the third straight game deGrom pitched eight full innings.

The Giants, who are on pace to lose more than 100 games for the first time since arriving on the West Coast, continued their freefall. They’ve lost 11 of their last 12 games, 13 of 15 and 20 of their last 25.

Curtis Granderson tripled off Sam Dyson (0-1) to lead off the eighth inning and scored on Jay Bruce’s RBI single. Flores doubled in Asdrubal Cabrera later in the inning to extend the lead to 3-1. The Mets made it a four-run lead in the ninth when Michael Conforto drove in Jose Reyes and later scored on a wild pitch.

Brandon Belt homered in the seventh for the Giants.

Johnny Cueto started for the Giants and kept pace with deGrom, whom he beat in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series with Kansas City. Cueto allowed one run and five hits in seven innings. His biggest mistake was a 2-2 changeup he left over the middle of the plate that Flores clubbed into the left-field bleachers for his seventh homer.

The Giants trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the seventh when Belt hit an opposite-field homer to left off deGrom. Belt’s team-leading 14th home run came on a hanging first-pitch curveball.

Asdrubal Cabrera, whose request to be traded on Friday triggered some controversy in the Mets’ clubhouse, was 2 for 3 with two walks. The veteran shortstop, who’s 5 for 9 since coming off the disabled list, was at second base — a move he was unhappy about — for a second straight day. He made a tough play fielding a grounder well to his left to rob Austin Slater of a hit in the bottom of the fifth