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Fernando Nieve improved to 3-0 as a Mets starter Wednesday night as New York crushed the St. Louis Cardinals 11-0 at Citi Field.
Nieve threw six scoreless innings, scattering three hits and four walks while reaching 108 pitches. He lost his no-hitter with one out in the third inning when Brendan Ryan hit a slow roller to third that David Wright didn’t charge, letting Ryan beat out the throw for an infield hit. It advanced our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,552 New York Mets games without a no-no.
Nieve got himself into a two-out bases-loaded jam in the inning, but struck out Rick Ankiel with a 3-2 94 mile-per-hour fastball to end the inning.
Wright had a great night at the plate by going 4-for-4 with three runs scored, and Nick Evans in his first 2009 start went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer to deep left in the fourth. Ryan Church was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, and Fernando Tatis was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs.
The bullpen did its job, with Brian Stokes, newcomer Pat Misch and Bobby Parnell each pitching a scoreless inning.