Santana sharp again as Mets blank Rockies
Johan Santana threw his second complete-game shutout of the season and Carlos Beltran had three hits and run batted in, as the New York Mets earned a 4-0 win over the Colorado Rockies in the rubber match of a three-game series at Citi Field.
Jose Reyes went 2-for-4 with an RBI, a run scored and two stolen bases for the Mets, who had dropped six of nine entering the series finale.
Santana (10-6), who was coming off a stellar outing on Saturday when the lefty limited Philadelphia to just five hits and three walks over 7 1/3 scoreless innings in a 1-0 win, gave up only four hits and two walks, while fanning 10. He threw 115 pitches, 79 for strikes and has now won five of his last six decisions. Santana also had a single and run scored.
Troy Tulowitzki had two of the four hits for Colorado, which finished 3-4 on its seven-game road trip.
Jason Hammel (8-7) was tagged with the loss for surrendering eight hits and four runs in seven innings. The right-hander, who snapped a four-game winless drought (0-3) with a victory over the Pirates on Friday, struck out four and walked one.
After Santana struck out the side in the top of the first, the Mets put up a pair in the home portion. Reyes led off with a single, stole second and crossed the plate two batters later on Angel Pagan’s base hit. Ike Davis followed with a ground-rule double to right and Beltran chased in another with a sacrifice fly.
Colorado stranded runners on the corners with two outs in the second when Clint Barmes popped out and the Mets had a threat turned aside in the fourth.
Both starting pitchers settled in to limit the offensive chances over the next couple innings and New York tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh.
Ruben Tejada got the rally started with a one-out walk and went to third on a single by Santana. Reyes stepped in and laced a run-scoring single to center with Santana taking third. Fernando Martinez then scored the Mets pitcher with a deep sac fly for a 4-0 game.
New York stranded a pair of runners in the eighth and Santana stayed on for the ninth and allowed a one-out single to Tulowitzki, but on the very next pitch got Melvin Mora to bounce into a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.
– Stephen (DS LLC.)
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