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The Washington Nationals’ Ronnie Belliard hit a high outside fastball off of John Maine on a hit-and-run Wednesday night to raise the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,333 New York Mets games without a no hitter.
It marks the fourth straight Mets no hitter broken up in the opening inning following Nelson Figueroa’s retiring of the first 14 batters he faced on April 11.
Maine settled down for a solid start and the Mets used the long ball to beat the Nationals 5-2. Maine lasted 6 2/3 innings, yielding just 2 runs and 5 hits while fanning four and walking four.
Two of those walks came when Maine’s control started to wane in the seventh, but the increasingly reliable Joe Smith got the final out and pitched a flawless eighth before Billy Wagner recorded his second save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth (although it included a deep fly to center chased down by Carlos Beltran).
Figueroa takes the mound for Thursday’s game.
