New York’s Matt Harvey had a no-hitter going into the 7th inning against the Minnesota Twins Saturday until Justin Morneau broke it up with his first homer of the season off the right field foul pole.
Still, it hardly put a dent in the performance of Harvey, who watched his season ERA barely swell from 0.64 to 0.82 with the homer as the Mets cruised 4-2. The fastballing right-hander is off to a 3-0 start, and brought the heat to a chilly afternoon at Target Field, hitting the radar gun at 97 mph.
”That’s a horse. That guy can really wing it,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, The Associated Press reported.
The Mets cruised while taking its second of the three-game series, scoring all of their runs in the fifth on seven straight hits. Marlon Byrd led off the inning with a 414-foot home run that landed in the second deck – the Mets have homered in all 11 games this season, the only team in the majors to do so. Collin Cowgill and Daniel Murphy hit run-scoring singles, and David Wright had an RBI infield hit.
It was a somewhat disappointing season debut for the Twins’ Scott Diamond, who made his first start since elbow surgery in December, allowing all four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. The Twins have now lost five straight and fallen to 4-7 in this young season.
Diamond’s feelings reflected the way the team has played of late. Diamond said he was “hoping for better,” according The AP.
The pitcher said it was big step getting out of the third inning, but the fifth “kind of sped up on me” with a lot of hits and it was “a little frustrating.”
It’s supposed to rain all day in the Twin Cities area Sunday, putting the final game of the series in peril. If the series finale is played, Dillon Gee is scheduled to start for New York. Gee is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA and has never faced the Twins. Kevin Correia (0-1, 3.14 ERA), who has pitched solidly, will start for the Twins.
