Flushing, NY – It wasn't quite Dickeynsian, but Johan Santana helped the Mets to their second straight shutout with a 5-0 win over the Orioles on Tuesday.
Santana (5-3) went six innings, allowing four hits and striking out five in his third start since throwing the first no-hitter in franchise history.
Still, his recent production will undoubtedly be overshadowed by R.A. Dickey, who tossed his second consecutive one-hitter on Monday in the opener of this three-game interleague series.
Bobby Parnell, Miguel Batista and Jon Rauch each added a scoreless frames on Tuesday to complete the shutout.
Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer and Jordany Valdespin added a two-run single for the Mets, who were swept by the Reds over the weekend.
Tommy Hunter (3-4) gave up five runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings in the loss.
"Tonight we had some opportunities we just didn't come through," said Orioles center fielder Adam Jones. "It's frustrating but it's part of the game."
Santana had pitched to a 9.00 earned run average in two starts since his June 1 no-hitter but he rarely ran into trouble on Tuesday. In the fourth he worked around a leadoff single by J.J. Hardy and a one-out double from Matt Wieters by fanning Mark Reynolds and Steve Pearce in succession.
In the bottom half, Reynolds made a diving stop on Daniel Murphy's bases- loaded grounder up the first base line. He forced out Murphy, but David Wright crossed the plate on the play, scoring the only run New York would need.
Santana popped out Reynolds with runners on first and second to end the sixth and Duda made it 3-0 in the home half, sending a towering homer over the fence in right -- his 11th of the season.
Valdespin singled in front of that blast and capped the scoring an inning later when he slapped a two-out base hit up the middle to score Josh Thole and Andres Torres.
"That no-hitter took it out of him," Mets manager Terry Collins said of Santana. "I'm not sure the adrenaline didn't wipe him out for a week but I thought he was much sharper today."
Game Notes
Santana is 2-1 since the no-hitter...The Mets have won five straight over the Orioles dating back to June 11, 2010...Wright has a hit in 10 straight games...The Orioles haven't homered in five straight contests, their longest stretch since another five-game span in 2010.