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Mets First No Hitter & More in Friday's Sports Update

Written by Ian R.  |  08. June 2012

Santana Makes History With Mets' First No-Hitter

Since their inception in 1962, the New York Mets had never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter. David Cone, Dwight Gooden and even the legendary Tom Seaver never managed to do so while wearing a Mets uniform.

On Friday, Johan Santana finally pitched the first no-no in team history. The ace left-hander held the St. Louis Cardinals hitless through nine shutout innings.

The game featured a few tense moments: In the sixth inning, former Met Carlos Beltran laced a ground ball down the third base line, but umpire Adrian Johnson called it foul. Beltran eventually struck out to continue the no-hit bid. Later, left fielder Mike Baxter crashed into a wall while chasing down a difficult, wind-blown fly ball but still managed to make the play.

Finally, on his 133rd pitch of the game, Santana struck out David Freese with a fantastic change-up to complete the no-hit game. He walked five and struck out eight on the night as the Mets won, 8-0.

Santana's no-hitter was a tough act to follow, but right-hander R.A. Dickey proved up to the task on Saturday. The knuckleball specialist pitched a shutout of his own, scattering seven hits while striking out nine Cardinals; the Mets won 5-0.

New York's run of pitching dominance continued on Sunday, as left-hander Jon Niese racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts in six innings of work. The Cardinals finally scored their first run of the series in the eighth inning, but it was far too little as the Mets rolled to a 6-1 victory.

The Cardinals did manage to salvage the fourth game of the series on Monday thanks to Allen Craig's two-run home run off reliever Jon Rauch. Scott Hairston and Lucas Duda blasted home runs for the Mets, but their offense fell just short as St. Louis completed the 5-4 victory.

At the end of a successful home stand, the Mets (31-24) sit at third place in the National League East, just half a game behind the first-place Nationals and Marlins. They will take a shot at the division lead during this week's series in Washington.

Yankees Win Two In Detroit

The New York Yankees finished up their nine-game road trip this weekend with a series win against the Detroit Tigers.

On Friday, the Yankees opened up on Tigers rookie Casey Crosby in the second inning. After Crosby issued four walks in the frame to load the bases and force in a run, Curtis Granderson blasted a grand slam to give New York a 5-1 lead.

That blow made a winner of left-hander CC Sabathia, who improved to 7-2 on the season.

In a back-and-forth affair Saturday night, the Yankees found themselves just on the short end of a 4-3 score. New York came from behind to tie the game twice, including a ninth-inning rally against Detroit closer Jose Valverde, but Omir Santos ultimately gave the Tigers victory with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the frame.

Despite the intimidating presence of reigning MVP Justin Verlander on the mound, Sunday's rubber match belonged to the Yankees. Derek Jeter greeted Verlander with his 27th career leadoff home run, and Phil Hughes held the Tigers to just four hits and one run in a complete-game effort.

The Yankees (29-24) return to New York coming off a 6-3 road trip. They will face the first-place Rays in a three-game set starting Tuesday.

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