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Well it wasn’t a no-hitter, but the New York Mets pulled off two other rare feats – a triple play and an inside-the-park homer – Wednesday night during a 5-3 loss to the Washington Nationals.
I haven’t confirmed this, but I’m guessing it’s the only 8-2-6-3 triple play in major league history.
With the Nationals’ Livan Hernandez at second and Nyjer Morgan at first, Washington sent the runners while Cristian Guzman hit a short fly ball center. Angel Pagan hustled in to make a great shoestring catch, and Hernandez was already standing on third and Morgan on second when Pagan tossed the ball toward shortstop Jose Reyes in an effort to begin the sequence.
Pagan’s errant throw sailed past Reyes and landed near the mound, but both runners stood still as if confused about whether it was indeed a catch. Mets’ catcher Henry Blanco picked up the ball, threw to Reyes for out No. 2 and then to Ike Davis at first for out No. 3.
One of the umpires was about to rule it a single (it was clearly a catch), but a colleague overruled him and signaled three punch outs for the triple-play.
And, in another rare feat one inning earlier, Pagan launched a deep fly ball off the center-field wall and rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run.
Newly promoted Mets’ starter R.A. Dickey made a valiant effort toward our rarest feat – a Mets’ no-hitter – reaching into the fourth inning with a no-no still intact. The knuckleballer lost it on a Guzman lined single up the middle, advancing our NoNoHitters.com count to 7,685 New York Mets games with no no-no.
Dickey was effective over six innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and four walks for a no decision.
The Nationals had a 2-1 lead in the sixth when Jeff Francoeur tied the game on a sacrifice fly, but Washington scored three runs off Mets’ relievers Raul Valdes and Fernando Nieve in the seventh.
Fernando Tatis added a homer in the ninth for the Mets’ third run.
