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SEATTLE (AP) — Jozy Altidore continued his scoring blitz with a goal in his third straight match, Eddie Johnson thrilled his home club fans with a goal in the 53rd minute, and the United States took over first place in its World Cup qualifying group with a 2-0 win over Panama on Tuesday.

Altidore scored in the 36th minute on a perfect cross from Fabian Johnson, moments after a potential penalty kick for the Americans was denied.

Eddie Johnson then gave the U.S. some cushion when he collected Geoff Cameron's pass over the top of Panama's defense and slid a left-footed shot past Jaime Penedo less than 10 minutes into the second half.

The U.S. holds a two-point lead over Costa Rica and Mexico in the qualifying group in the 10-game final round of the North and Central American and Caribbean region. They will host Honduras next Tuesday night in Sandy, Utah.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- From big 3s to Big Three, the Spurs had it all in the NBA Finals' raucous return to San Antonio.

Danny Green made seven of the Spurs' finals-record 16 3-pointers, Tim Duncan has 12 points and 14 rebounds, and the Spurs clobbered the Miami Heat 113-77 on Tuesday night to take 2-1 lead in the series.

Green scored 27 points and Gary Neal made six 3-pointer while scoring 24 as San Antonio went 16 of 32 from behind the arc.

Duncan bounced back from his worst game ever in the finals, and the Spurs' combination of fresh faces and old reliables in a raucous return to a city that hadn't hosted a finals game since 1997.

The Spurs were as good as fans remembered in the old days, shutting down LeBron James until they had built a huge lead late in the third quarter.

James finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but missed 11 of his first 13 shots against the excellent defense of Kawhi Leonard, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Game 4 is Thursday here, where the Heat are 3-22 in the regular season and so far zero wins and one really bad beating in the postseason.

Duncan shot 3 of 13 for nine points, his worst performance ever in his 25 NBA Finals games, in the Heat's 103-84 victory Sunday. Tony Parker wasn't much better, shooting 5 of 14 and committing five turnovers, and Manu Ginobili admitted afterward the veteran trio had to play well for the Spurs to win.

They were fine, but the lesser-knowns were better.

Parker and Ginobili combined for 14 assists, but the bigger story was the guys who had never played on this stage before.

- Neal, who went undrafted after playing for LaSalle and Towson, then playing overseas for three seasons in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

-Green, who had been cut multiple times - including by James' Cavaliers - and now has the shot to stick.

-Leonard, the draft-night trade acquisition from San Diego State who played the NBA's four-time MVP to a stalemate.

Mike Miller made all five 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Heat, who broke open Sunday's game and seized momentum in the series with a 33-5 run in the second half.

The Spurs seized it right back, improving to 18-7 in the finals, the best winning percentage of any team with 20 or more games.

A brief flurry by James had Miami within 15 after three quarters, but Neal, Green and Leonard combined on a 13-0 run to open the fourth, Green's 3-pointer making it 91-63.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Michael Wacha recovered from a wild start to earn his first major league win and Allen Craig hit a three-run homer for the St. Louis Cardinals in a 9-2 victory over the staggering New York Mets on Tuesday night.

Matt Holliday had three hits and the NL Central leaders took full advantage of a crucial error by new Mets first baseman Daniel Murphy, who was shifted over from second after slumping Ike Davis got demoted to the minors Sunday.

David Freese extended his career-high hitting streak to 20 games, longest in the National League this season, and Wacha (1-0) even knocked in a run with a groundout for his first RBI.

Omar Quintanilla homered for the Mets, who gave up seven unearned runs and lost for the seventh time in eight games since a season-best five-game winning streak that included a four-game sweep of the Subway Series against the New York Yankees.

Jeremy Hefner (1-6) had a 2-1 lead until St. Louis scored five unearned runs in the fifth inning, capped by Craig's fifth homer. The outburst began when Jon Jay reached on a leadoff grounder to Murphy, who knocked it down on his backhand but rushed a high, off-balance throw to Hefner covering first.

Pete Kozma doubled and Hefner slammed down the rosin bag at the back of the mound after Wacha's grounder to shortstop tied the score. Matt Carpenter walked, Yadier Molina put the Cardinals ahead with an RBI groundout and Holliday reached on an infield single before Craig drove an 0-1 pitch to left-center for a 6-2 advantage.

At his best in clutch situations, Craig came in batting .400 with runners in scoring position - the same average he had last year.

St. Louis, which owns baseball's best record at 42-22, added two in the seventh after Kirk Nieuwenhuis misplayed a deep fly to right for an error. Holliday had an RBI single and reliever Josh Edgin, just recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, walked Jay with the bases loaded to force in another run.

Shane Robinson, who replaced Craig in right field for defense, homered in the ninth off David Aardsma to make it 9-2. Craig made a painful-looking catch in the third when he fell at the base of the wall in front of the 375-foot sign, where his neck and the back of his head snapped back and hit the fence.

Wacha, drafted 19th overall a year ago out of Texas A&M, was making his third major league start after an impressive outing against Kansas City and a shaky one against Arizona.

Pitching on the road for the first time, he gave up a home run to his second batter and walked three in a 37-pitch first inning. Marlon Byrd had a sacrifice fly and the bases were loaded when Nieuwenhuis hit a grounder up the middle that appeared headed for center field and a two-run single that would have given New York a 4-0 lead.

Kozma, however, was positioned perfectly at shortstop and made a nice play to end the inning.

It was the sort of play that often goes unnoticed, but it stopped the Mets in their tracks. The 21-year-old Wacha did not walk another batter and yielded five hits over six solid innings before Randy Choate and Keith Butler finished up.

New York did not manage a hit after Jordany Valdespin's leadoff single in the fifth. With Davis sent down, Valdespin is getting an opportunity to play regularly at second base, his natural position.

NOTES: Cardinals RF Carlos Beltran, a former Mets star, was rested to give him consecutive days off. The team was off Monday and Beltran traveled home to attend commencement ceremonies for the first graduating class of his Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in Puerto Rico. "We're happy that he was able to make that happen, and the Cardinals really tried to help out," manager Mike Matheny said. "It was a lot of travel. What he's doing down there is good for the game, good for the community." ... Matheny said RHP Jake Westbrook (elbow inflammation) is scheduled to come off the disabled list and start Friday night in Miami. ... Mets RHP Matt Harvey (5-0, 2.10 ERA) threw his bullpen session and is on target to make his next scheduled start in the series finale Thursday afternoon against RHP Adam Wainwright (9-3, 2.34). Harvey left Saturday's start after seven effective innings with tightness in his lower back.