Mets’ Santana goes route on mound to blank Bucs, 4-0

He got ahead in the count on 26 of 31 hitters to pitch a three-hitter for New York.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Johan Santana’s goal was to give the struggling New York Mets bullpen a break.

Turned out, those relievers got the entire day off.

Santana pitched a three-hitter for his fifth career shutout and the streaking Mets got home runs from Brian Schneider and Carlos Beltran in a 4-0 victory Sunday over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I was very aggressive throwing the first pitch for strikes,” said Santana, who got ahead in the count on 26 of 31 hitters. “That allowed me to go out there for the ninth. I was just doing my job.”

Argenis Reyes added three hits for the Mets, who have won six straight and 10 of 13.

Santana (11-7) retired his first 10 hitters before Jack Wilson singled and Freddy Sanchez reached on an error in the fourth. Wilson had two hits for the Pirates, who have dropped four straight and seven of nine.

Santana threw 85 of 113 pitches for strikes en route to his eighth career complete game and second this season. His previous shutout was June 19, 2007, when he blanked the Mets for Minnesota.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in baseball,” Pittsburgh manager John Russell said. “That’s what he’s capable of doing.”

The left-hander was at 108 pitches through eight innings and had no thoughts about coming out of the game.

“He was adamant about going back out there, which is always a good thing,” New York manager Jerry Manuel said. “If you can, you like to reward.”

The Mets, who acquired reliever Luis Ayala from Washington before the game for a player to be named, didn’t need to rely on their shaky bullpen, which had trouble nailing down wins in the first two games of the series without injured closer Billy Wagner.

Santana’s third career three-hitter gave the Mets six consecutive road victories for the first time since 2001. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner struck out seven, including Adam LaRoche three times, and didn’t walk a hitter.

That continued a strong run by New York starters, who are 6-0 with a 1.51 ERA in their past seven games.

Jeff Karstens (2-2) went six innings, allowing four runs and nine hits. The right-hander has allowed two home runs in each of his past two outings.

“I made some bad pitches, and they hit them,” Karstens said. “I expect better from myself.”