Santana, Mets blank O's
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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.