NEW YORK – Michael Wuertz walked three straight batters in the bottom of the ninth inning, forcing home the winning run in the New York Mets’ 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Slumping slugger Carlos Delgado drew the game-ending walk on a 3-2 pitch that was high, and David Wright hit a two-run homer to help New York win for the fifth time in six games. The Mets, who overcame an early four-run deficit, have won nine of 12 overall.

Tom Glavine failed to earn his 295th win, but recovered from a rocky start and kept New York in the game. After falling behind 4-0 in the second, he left for a pinch hitter in the sixth with the score tied.

Trying to win his sixth consecutive start, Jason Marquis was unable to hold the big lead. The right-hander, who is from New York City, entered 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA in his first season with Chicago.

Jose Reyes singled off Wuertz (0-2) with two outs in the ninth and stole his major league-leading 23rd base on a pitchout. Endy Chavez walked, and Wuertz fell behind Carlos Beltran 3-0 before issuing an intentional pass that loaded the bases.

Delgado, who began the day batting .209 with three homers, fouled off a pair of 3-2 deliveries before laying off the 10th pitch he saw.

With a runner on second, winner Aaron Heilman (4-2) retired Cesar Izturis on a grounder back to the mound with his only pitch. Wright finished with three hits.

Alfonso Soriano, batting third for the first time this season, doubled with two outs in the first and scored when Aramis Ramirez looped a single just in front of a charging Beltran in center.

Angel Pagan’s one-out double barely eluded Chavez’s dive in left, and Marquis grounded a two-run single under second baseman Damion Easley’s glove for his first RBIs of the year.

Marquis scored from first on a bloop double by Izturis that deflected off the glove of Easley as he and right fielder Shawn Green narrowly avoided a collision.

Wright’s opposite-field drive in the fourth barely sneaked over the right-field fence, cutting it to 4-2.

After loading the bases on three straight two-out walks in the fifth, Glavine went to 3-2 on Mark DeRosa before inducing a routine fly. The Cubs are 0-for-15 with six RBIs with the bases loaded dating to April 30.

Soriano probably should have caught Delgado’s leadoff single in the sixth, but he hesitated and let the blooper fall in front of him. Wright followed with a single that chased Marquis, and Paul Lo Duca’s one-out double off Rocky Cherry made it 4-3. Easley tied it with a sacrifice fly.

Signed to a $21 million, three-year contract after going 14-16 with a 6.02 ERA for St. Louis last year, Marquis allowed four runs and five hits in five-plus innings. He was coming off a three-hit shutout against Pittsburgh and had allowed one earned run over 17 innings in his previous two starts, both against the Pirates.

Notes: Cubs 1B Derrek Lee missed his first game this season because of neck spasms. Lee, who leads the major leagues with a .390 batting average, went back to Chicago for tests and was not at the game. DeRosa started at 1B – and planned to use Lee’s mitt. DeRosa was shaken up when Chavez ran into his arm on a bunt single in the fifth, but remained in the game until he was lifted for pinch-hitter Daryle Ward in the eighth. … Mets LF Moises Alou sat out his second consecutive game with a strained left quadriceps. … LPGA rookie Meaghan Francella, from nearby Port Chester, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.