Omar Quintanilla wasn’t in any mood to go from one side of a no-hitter to the other in successive Johan Santana starts.
With two outs in the sixth inning last night, Quintanilla worked the count full against Hiroki Kuroda before slashing a double to left-center that ensured the Mets wouldn’t be no-hit.
“It was a little strange,” Quintanilla said after the Mets’ 9-1 loss to the Yankees, referring to the possibility of going from one side of a no-hitter to the other. “But nobody was nervous inside the dugout. We knew somehow we were going to get one and grind one out, and it was a relief after that.”
Lucas Duda delivered an RBI double against Ryota Igarashi in the ninth, giving the Mets their only other hit. It marked the second time in three games the Mets finished with three hits or fewer — Edwin Jackson and the Nationals bullpen provided the resistance on Wednesday, combining to allow three hits.
After an offensive surge on their last homestand, the Mets have averaged just 2.3 runs over their last three games.
“A couple of days in Washington we kind of got out of our game plan a little bit,” David Wright said. “I felt like today we were having pretty decent at-bats, we just ran up against a guy that was throwing everything for strikes and keeping us completely off balance.”
Hitting coach Dave Hudgens said the recent offensive drought isn’t a cause for concern, but admitted the Mets helped Kuroda.
“I thought we expanded the zone a little bit,” Hudgens said. “Guys got a little frustrated because he was on the edges and we chased a little bit. We would like to tighten up a little. But you go through stretches. We’ve just got to get back to getting good balls to hit and being aggressive on the pitch.”
Manager Terry Collins credited Kuroda.
“I’ve seen Mr. Kuroda for awhile — I’ve seen him in Japan and I’ve seen him here — and this is the best I’ve ever seen him pitch,” Collins said. “This was the best command of his stuff I’ve ever seen, so he pitched pretty good against us.”