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Nelson Figueroa shutout the Cardinals during a 4-1/3-inning emergency relief assignment and helped his cause with a two-run triple Wednesday as the Mets topped the St. Louis Cardinals 9-0 at Citi Field.
Angel Pagan led the 15-hit offensive charge with a 3-for-4 afternoon that included a homer, a triple, a single and 4 RBIs – just a double short of a cycle.
Brooklyn-raised Figueroa, who was hammered for 6 runs on 10 hits during a 1 2/3-inning start on Monday, rebounded nicely after Jon Niese went down with a right leg injury in the second inning. His liner was ruled a triple despite being misplayed by Cards’ pitcher-turned outfielder Rick Ankiel.
Niese strained his hamstring while covering first base for Daniel Murphy on a Joe Thurston grounder. (Niese had lost the no-no in the first inning on an Albert Pujols double, bumping our count to 7,589 New York Mets games without a no-hitter.)
That put the Mets’ 2009 injury count right around 7,589 (OK, a slight exaggeration) as 2B Luis Castillo sat out the game after spraining his ankle in the dugout on Tuesday. The Mets are already without the services of Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, John Maine, Fernando Martinez, Ramon Martinez, Fernando Nieve, J.J. Putz and Billy Wagner. Gary Sheffield, who recently returned to the lineup after a DL stint, left in the sixth with some hamstring tightness.
David Wright, who had to duck a pitch in the sixth prompting umpire warnings to the dugouts, went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first, and Jeff Francoeur also contributed with a pair of hits.
Bobby Parnell threw three shutout innings for the extended save and got a hit in his first Major League at-bat by leading off the bottom of the eighth inning with a single.
