SAN DIEGO -- James Shields has dropped the "Big Game James" tag.

But he proved once again Wednesday night why he's the horse in the Padres rotation as he improved his record to 7-0 with seven solid innings in the Padres' 7-3 win over the New York Mets at Petco Park.

"Shields might not have had his best fastball tonight," Padres manager Bud Black said after a second straight win over the Mets completed a 4-3 homestand for San Diego.

"But he had late life on his pitches and he kept them at bay while we were building a lead."

While Shields was holding the Mets scoreless on two hits over the first five innings, the Padres were building a 7-0 lead against Mets starter Dillon Gee, who was making his first major league start in a month.

Shields' final line was two runs allowed on six hits and two walks over seven innings, although he needed a couple of double-play grounders to get out of his final two innings after the Mets had scored single runs in the sixth and the seventh.

"That's a team that likes to hack a lot," Shields said of the Mets. "That's a good hitting team. The three double plays and the offense were huge tonight."

Shields is one of two pitchers in Padres history to start the season with a 7-0 record. Andy Hawkins started the 1985 season 11-0.

Offensively, the Padres got three RBIs from third baseman Will Middlebrooks and two hits apiece from outfielders Venable, Justin Upton and Matt Kemp.

Middlebrooks capped a two-run first against Gee with a sacrifice fly then added a two-run single in the fifth to make it 7-0. Center fielder Venable had a two-run single in the fourth.

Gee struggled and didn't get much help from his teammates as he fell to 0-3. Gee had been on the disabled list since May 9 (retroactive to May 4) with a mild right groin strain. He allowed seven runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk in four-plus innings.

"We didn't make some plays behind Dillon and get him out of trouble," said Mets manager Terry Collins. "He's around the plate and they're going to put the ball in play. You have to catch the baseball when he pitches. If we made a couple plays behind him, I don't think the outcome is the same."

"I didn't feel terrible tonight, but the end results was it wasn't great," said Gee. "I didn't have a very good night. I thought I threw like I normally throw, but they squared up a lot of balls. And the ones they didn't square up still fell in."

The Padres scored two unearned runs in the first then added two in the fourth and three in the fifth to lead 7-0 when Gee departed.

The trouble started with one out in the first when Mets third baseman Ruben Tejada couldn't handle the grounder hit by Padres catcher Derek Norris for the first of his two errors.

Gee then walked left fielder Upton ahead of a bases-loading single by Kemp. Gee forced in the game's first run by hitting first baseman Yonder Alonso with a pitch. Upton scored on Middlebrooks' sacrifice fly to center.

The Padres doubled their lead in the fourth. Second baseman Cory Spangenberg and shortstop Alexi Amarista opened the inning with back-to-back, line-drive singles to center. Shields sacrificed them to third and second, respectively, and Venable drove them both home with a line-drive single to right over a drawn-in infield.

Upton and Kemp opened the fifth with back-to-back singles putting runners at the corners. Alonso grounded back to Gee, who threw wildly to the plate for an error in an attempt to keep Upton from scoring. Middlebrooks followed with a two-run single.

Meanwhile, Shields retired 11 straight Mets starting with a second-inning fly to Kemp that resulted in a double play.

Mets left fielder Darrell Ceciliani doubled to lead off the Mets second. But he tried to tag and advance to third on center fielder Juan Lagares' fly to Kemp in right. Kemp th