Strasburg Beats Santana, Mets

Stephen Strasburg allowed just two hits and three walks while striking out nine in his six innings of work, as the young phenom got the better of veteran Johan Santana, and the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 4-0 at Citi Field on Wednesday in the rubber game of a three game set.

Ruben Tejada smacked a lead-off single in the first inning ahead of a walk to Daniel Murphy. After a wild-pitch, the Mets were setup with two runners in scoring position and one out. But neither Ike Davis nor Jason Bay could drive in a run and the Mets squandered their best scoring opportunity of the game.

Santana (0-1) pitched well - five hits, three walks and eight K's giving up just one earned run in his five innings of work - but the offense has yet to score in his 10.0-innings on the mound.

New York won 1-0 on Opening Day, but didn't score until after their Ace had left the game.

Washington's offense didn't fare much better, yet took advantage of ten walks from Mets' pitching. The Nats' first run was scored on a wild-pitch from Santana. Two more runs were scored on bases-loaded-walks, and another came on an RBI ground out.

The Mets (4-2) open a series in Philadelphia on Friday night with R.A. Dickey (1-0) scheduled to start for New York against the Phillies Cliff Lee (0-0).