Mets" Win Doesn't Come Easy Mark Blinch/Reuters Mike Baxter was greeted by Kirk Nieuwenhuis after scoring in the fifth. Baxter reached base four times and was a home run short of hitting for the cycle. TORONTO - With the Mets" failure to take a lead at any point in the first two games of their series here, Frank Francisco, their closer, had not gotten an opportunity to pitch in front of the fans of the Blue Jays, his previous team. The chance came Sunday afternoon, when the Mets sent him to the mound to protect their one-run lead. As the crowd of 41,867 exhaled a thick stream of boos, the Mets seemingly held their breaths. Francisco, after all, had entered the game with an 8.04 earned run average and a collection of self-destructive outings. Another implosion seemed imminent when the first two batters to reached base. But Francisco struck out the next three batters, securing the Mets" 6-5 win over the Blue Jays and allowing them to exhale, finally. Manager Terry Collins spoke to some of his players Saturday night about the need to be more assertive at the plate, and the Mets put his words into practice from the outset of Sunday's game. In the first inning, after Andres Torres walked and Mike Baxter doubled, David Wright sent both home when he lined a two-run double into left-center field. Two outs later, Kirk Nieuwenhuis lined a ball to center field that hung for a moment in the glove of a diving Colby Rasmus before popping out, giving Nieuwenhuis a run-scoring double. Wright went 2 for 4, raising his average to .412. Baxter, who brought a .351 average into the game, instigated much of the Mets" offense. With two outs in the second, he drilled a ball off the wall in right field for a triple that scored Ronny Cedeno from third. Baxter got his third hit of the day in the fifth on a single to left, and three batters later, Daniel Murphy grounded a single up the middle to score him from third. Later that inning, Ike Davis came up with the bases loaded and grounded a potential double-play ball to second, but the Blue Jays could only get one out, and Lucas Duda cruised home, making it 6-2. Baxter, who needed a home run to complete the cycle, grounded out and walked in his last two at-bats. He ended the game hitting .390. The Mets had received a combined five innings of work from their starting pitchers during the first two games of this series, so Dillon Gee's strong start Sunday was a salve for their taxed bullpen. Gee (3-3) threw 113 pitches over six and two-thirds innings. He gave up a run-scoring single to Yan Gomes in the second. Jose Bautista hit a solo home run in the third and a run-scoring single in the seventh. Bobby Parnell, who had appeared to be the only Mets reliever immune to the bullpen's recent outbreak of ineffectuality, had a rough time in the eighth, giving up three hits and two runs, letting the Blue Jays cut the deficit to one before Tim Byrdak got the final out in the eighth. From there, Francisco made the most of his chance against his former team, but not before some scary moments for his current team. The Mets placed the right-hander Miguel Batista on the disabled list with a strained lower back. Chris Schwinden, who has an 11.25 earned run average in two starts for the Mets this year, was recalled from the minors.