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Twenty-two-year-old rookie Andrew McCutchen killed any possibility of a Mets no-hitter Thursday, singling in his first Major League at-bat to spark a four-run, first-inning rally that led the Pittsburgh Pirates to an 11-6 victory at PNC Park.
Mets starter Mike Pelfrey was pulled after a disastrous 3 2/3 innings, giving up nine runs (eight earned) on nine hits and four walks. A quick check of our No-hitters killed by first at bat page shows that McCutchen’s leadoff hit, which advanced our count to 7,434 New York Mets games without a no-hitter, is the sixth early no-no killer off Pelfrey this season, leaving him well set to break his 2008 mark of seven.
(Pelfrey’s most memorable leadoff gaff of course will always be the Padres’ Jody Gerut’s christening of the new Citi Field on April 13 with a leadoff homer.)
A few Mets’ highlights Thursday included Carlos Beltran, who bounced back from his lingering stomach virus by going 2-for-4 with a homer and double. David Wright went 2-for-3 with two walks, an RBI and two runs scored, and Fernando Martinez also had a pair of hits with an RBI double in the fifth.
But those performances did little to mask the fact that the Mets got swept by a sub-.500 team.