NEW YORK -- Bartolo Colon's at-bats are no longer a laughing matter for the New York Mets. They sure do bring a smile to the faces of everyone in the dugout, though.

Colon threw seven solid innings Sunday, helped his own cause with an RBI double and earned his National League-leading eighth win when third baseman Ruben Tejada laced a tie-breaking, two-out RBI double in the seventh inning of the Mets' 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins.

"I think what people don't see is how much of an athlete he is," said Mets catcher Anthony Recker, who scored on Colon's second-inning double. "He's got his physical appearance, which is less than ideal, but he obviously knows what he's doing out there."

Especially on the mound.

Colon, listed at 5-foot-11 and 283 pounds and one week removed from his 42nd birthday, improved to 8-3 after allowing the three runs on six hits and no walks while striking out two.

He threw just 79 pitches, 55 for strikes, but his recent success at the plate -- Colon also singled Monday, when he earned the win in the Mets' 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies -- wasn't enough to convince manager Terry Collins to let him bat with one out in the seventh and center fielder Juan Lagares at second.

Pinch-hitter Darrell Ceciliani flew out, but right fielder Curtis Granderson got ahead 2-0 before he was intentionally walked by right-hander Steve Cishek (1-5). Tejada followed with a double to deep left for his fifth hit in 12 at-bats since becoming the Mets' third baseman and No. 2 hitter on Friday.

"I just said, you know what, I've got to see if we can score a run here and make something happen," Collins said. "Fortunately, Ruben came through."

Right-hander Carlos Torres recorded one out and allowed one hit in the eighth before giving way to right-hander Jeurys Familia, who stranded two runners in scoring position in the eighth and worked around a two-out hit in the ninth for his 15th save.

With the win, the Mets (28-23) salvaged the finale of the three-game series and moved within a half-game of the first-place Washington Nationals in the NL East.

Tejada's hit elicited a roar from the crowd of 28,711 that was only slightly louder than the one generated by Colon in the second, when he laced a 1-2 pitch into center field for his 14th hit in 178 career at-bats. The ball rolled past Ichiro Suzuki, who was playing shallow, and all the way to the wall.

"I was looking at Ichiro, reading his back numbers," Colon said through interpreter Ricky Bones.

How about trying for third?

"No shot," a grinning Colon said.

The RBI was the eighth of Colon's career, his third of the season and his second in six weeks against Marlins right-hander David Phelps, who gave up an RBI single on April 17.

Colon, who threw a 1-2-3 inning after his fifth-inning single against the Phillies Monday, needed just 13 pitches to retire the Marlins in order in the third and fourth.

"Nobody likes to be embarrassed, at any level, and he knows people are laughing at him when he hits and does all the other things," Collins said. "I think he took it a little personal, that, hey, look, I'm a baseball player."

The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the first, when first baseman Lucas Duda scored from second after shortstop Wilmer Flores' two-out grounder skipped under the legs of first baseman Justin Bour for an error. Flores homered in the third.

Bour had two hits for the Marlins, including a game-tying homer in the sixth. Left fielder Christian Yelich had an RBI fielder's choice in the second while catcher Jhonatan Solano had an RBI groundout in the fifth as Miami fell to 20-31.

"We won the series and that's a positive note," Marlins manager Dan Jennings said. "Go home and have the (Chicago) Cubs for three and hopefully we can build on winning this series."

Phelps didn't fac