There’s no use pitching and moaning about the recent deluge of injuries, so just pitch, pitch, pitch.
It’s a formula that is starting to work just fine for the Mets. Of course, it hasn’t hurt that the latest opposition is a complete National joke.
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Last night, Livan Hernandez received early run support and used that as an excuse to pound the strike zone. The right-hander ended with the Mets’ first complete game of the season, after receiving a late cushion on a Gary Sheffield home run, helping the Mets beat the last-place Nationals 6-1 at Citi Field.
Hernandez, who threw 127 pitches — excluding the estimated 85 he unloaded in the bullpen to get loose — has allowed two earned runs or fewer in four of his last five starts.
“This is the Livan everybody knew before,” Hernandez said. “The last two years have been a difficult time, but now I’ve come back and been the same as before.”
On a day Jose Reyes and Ryan Church were added to the disabled list and Carlos Beltran received a cortisone shot in his right leg that will keep him sidelined until at least Friday, the Mets welcomed hot-shot rookie Fernando Martinez to the lineup and celebrated a fourth victory in five games.
Martinez finished 0-for-3 with an RBI and two strikeouts in his big-league debut, with Sheffield stealing the show offensively for the second straight night by hitting a three-run homer against reliever Jason Bergmann in the seventh. It was Sheffield’s three-run homer — upheld by replay — on Monday that carried the Mets to a 5-2 victory over the Nationals.
Hernandez (4-1) received a standing ovation as he left the mound after recording the final out in the eighth. Little did everyone know he would be headed back for the ninth — despite having already thrown 107 pitches — for his 38th career complete game.
Manager Jerry Manuel said Sheffield’s homer was the impetus for Hernandez’s complete game. “Once we went up, it gave us a little bit of a margin for error, so that was a big hit,” Manuel said. “We could afford to let him get a couple of runners on base, because he had been able to get the double-play ball, which was big for us.”
Hernandez, who allowed nine hits and walked one, got the Nationals to hit into three double plays. Adam Dunn’s homer leading off the seventh accounted for Washington’s only run.
“I threw good sinkers, and people hit into double plays,” said Hernandez, 34. “Today was a day everything happened perfect: a lot of double plays and the sinker working real good.”
The Nationals had a scoring chance against Hernandez in the fifth, but misfired when Josh Bard was thrown out at the plate by Angel Pagan while attempting to score on pitcher Craig Stammen’s single.
Martinez recorded his first major league RBI by grounding into a fielder’s choice in the third inning, giving the Mets a 3-0 lead.
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The Mets got a run in the second inning on Ramon Martinez’s RBI double after Omir Santos smacked a two-out double. In the third, the Mets loaded the bases with one out and Fernando Tatis hit a potential double-play grounder to shortstop. But Christian Guzman misplayed the ball — it was ruled an infield single — and Pagan scored, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Hernandez was soon on his way.
“This day is about Livan,” Sheffield said. “He went out there and took matters in his own hands and went the distance.”
mpuma@nypost.com