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Johan Santana pitched seven innings of shutout ball and Aaron Heilman and Luis Ayala retired the final six batters to lead “Los Mets” to a 3-0 win over the Houston Astros.
Santana threw 121 pitches, scattering eight hits and one walk while pitching himself out of jams to strand all nine of those baserunners.
The Mets – wearing jerseys donning “Los Mets” in honor of Fiesta Latina – jumped on the scoreboard in the first inning for the 12th time in their last 15 games when David Wright hit a bloop single to right, scoring Jose Reyes. Reyes had reached base on a single, stole second on a pitch in the dirt and reached third on an Argenis Reyes sacrifice bunt.
Brian Schneider put the Mets up 3-0 with a two-run homer in the second. Scoring on the blast was Ryan Church, who reached base by running out a third baseline slow-roller in his first at-bat off the DL.
All were important runs in a game that featured strong starting pitching on both sides. Houston’s Roy Oswalt allowed just four hits and no walks over eight innings of work.
Santana lost his no-no in the first inning when Mark Loretta singled to left, making it 7,449 games without a Mets no-hitter.
John Maine gets the ball for the Mets on Saturday night.
