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The Mets jumped on Washington starter Jason Bergmann for 8 third-inning runs Wednesday night en route to a 12-0 rout of the Nationals.
Mets starter John Maine (5 innings, 1 hit, 4 walks, 6 strikeouts) and reliever Brandon Stokes (4 innings, 3 hits, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts) combined for the shutout.
The third-inning rally began with a David Wright single and a Carlos Delgado walk before Daniel Murphy continued his hot streak with a 2-RBI single. Then Fernando Tatis, who already had a solo homer in the second, drove home Delgado before Bergmann issued walks to Brian Schneider and Maine, the latter scoring a run.
Bergmann appeared destined to finally get out of the inning when he got Jose Reyes to hit a double-play ball to shortstop, but like a hockey screen shot it sneaked through Schneider’s legs before getting booted by shortstop Cristian Guzman. The single (it should have been ruled an error) scored two runs, and a double by Carlos Beltran added two more runs.
Murphy, who went 3-for-6 in the game and is now batting .467 on the season, added a two-run homer in the fifth.
Maine lost his no-hitter in the second inning when former Met Lastings Milledge singled to center, but after just coming off the DL he probably wouldn’t have gone the distance even if the “H” column held a zero. Wednesday night’s game marks the 7,440th game without a Mets no-hitter.
