7,470: Mets held to 4 hits in 1-0 loss to Nationals

The Mets’ bats went quiet again Tuesday night – especially in the middle of the lineup – as the Washington Nationals’ Odalis Perez outdueled Mike Pelfrey for a 1-0 victory.

Pelfrey pitched a strong game, giving up just one earned run over seven innings on seven hits, four walks and four strikeouts. But Perez was sharper, yielding just four hits and no walks while striking out six in 7 1/3 innings of work.

Perez also scored the game’s only run, crossing the plate on a Cristian Guzman ground-rule double after doubling to left earlier in the fifth inning.

David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, held hitless in Monday night’s 7-2 loss, were a combined 1-12 Tuesday night, with the only hit coming in the form of a first-inning single by Wright.

Pelfrey lost his no-hitter on the first batter he faced. He got a glove on a hard-hit comebacker by Willie Harris, but the ball fell behind him and gave Wright no time to make a play. That advanced our NoNoHitters.com to 7,470 games without a New York Mets no-hitter and marked the 37th time this season that a potential Mets no-no was broken up on the first at bat. (See our No-hitters killed by first at bat page for more details.)