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MIAMI (AP) -- Orlando Hernandez got a little helpful advice from his new teammates en route to winning his first start with the New York Mets.

Hernandez pitched five innings and Carlos Beltran homered in the Mets' 7-3 victory over the Florida Marlins on Sunday.

Elias Says
Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez became the Mets' 10th different starting pitcher in the team's 49th game Sunday. The Mets are the first big-league team in 50 years to use 10 different starting pitchers in the first 50 games of a season; the last team to do that was the 1956 Cardinals. • For more Elias Says, Click here

Hernandez (3-4), who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked three.

Hernandez credited Mets veterans Pedro Martinez and Julio Franco for helping him through his 101-pitch performance.

"From the dugout, they told me I was opening up too much on my pitches," Hernandez said. "That's what I like -- to be told right away what you're doing wrong."

The Mets never trailed after scoring four runs off Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco in the first. Florida cut it to 5-3 but Beltran hit a two-run homer in the fourth, his 14th of the season.

Jose Reyes also finished with three hits as the Mets won their third straight series.

Beltran also had a key bunt single to load the bases in New York's big first inning. Cliff Floyd and David Wright had RBI singles, Carlos Delgado drove in a run with a groundout and Jose Valentin added a sacrifice fly in the first.

"That's the way I like to play the game," Beltran said of his first-inning hit. "I just feel sometimes you need to sacrifice for the team and the first inning was a good position to sacrifice the guys over."

New York manager Willie Randolph supported his hitter's decision to bunt from the third slot in the lineup.

"That's part of his game," Randolph said. "I don't mind it because he does it when he has to do it. He's a team player."

Valentin singled in Delgado to give the Mets a 5-3 lead in the third.

Nolasco (3-2) allowed seven runs and 10 hits in four innings. He made his second start of the season after 11 appearances as a reliever.

"I just wanted to stay aggressive in the zone and keep making pitches," Nolasco said. "Maybe some things didn't happen here and there but that's baseball. Everybody is still giving it their all."

An offseason Miami resident, Hernandez admitted to added tension pitching before friends and hometown fans. Sunday's attendance of 17,488 was the highest in the three-game series.

"I appreciated the Marlins fans because even though they wanted the Marlins to win they wanted me to pitch well," the Cuban pitcher said. "That's why I love Miami so much."

Hernandez started Sunday to give Steve Traschel an extra day's rest because of back spasms.

"He's the kind of pitcher that knows how to manage a game and knows how to make pitches when he has to," Randolph said.

Jeremy Hermida hit a three-run homer off Hernandez in the second inning to pull Florida within one. Hermida hit Hernandez's 1-1 pitch over the right-field wall for his first home run of the season.

"I don't believe in moral victories but I also want them to understand that they gave the effort out there," Marlins manager Joe Girardi said. "You can see the improvement and with a young ballclub you have to look at the positives and build from there."

Game notes

Mets C Paul Lo Duca extended his hitting streak to 12 with a single in the fourth. ... The Mets are 11-4-2 in series this season. ... The Marlins have hit home runs in six consecutive games. ... Miguel Cabrera's streak of two hits in each of his last four games ended Sunday. Cabrera went hitless in three at-bats.