Estes Just a Little Less Than Perfect

Shawn Estes was getting ready to bat in the fifth inning and the scoreboard at Shea Stadium flashed that he had pitched four no-hitters in high school.

“You’re not supposed to do that. Isn’t that a jinx?” Estes said.

He nearly came up with the first no-hitter in the history of the New York Mets and a perfect game too. But Eric Young lined a single into left field leading off the seventh inning, becoming the first runner for the Milwaukee Brewers as Estes pitched a one-hitter for a 1-0 victory Friday night.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Met manager Bobby Valentine said. “It gets one pitch better than that, maybe.”

Jay Payton supplied the offense with a second-inning home run off Glendon Rusch (1-2), Estes came back from a trip to a chiropractor with overpowering pitches and Mo Vaughn made a great fielding play in the sixth to keep the perfect game-bid alive.

The Mets, who have played 6,373 games, are among only five major league teams that have never thrown a no-hitter, joined by four younger teams: San Diego, Colorado, Arizona and Tampa Bay.

After watching the clubhouse TV and seeing the Dodgers’ Odalis Perez pitch a one-hitter against the Cubs, Estes (1-2) retired his first 18 batters before Young jumped on a 1-1 change-up. The only other runner he allowed was a two-out walk to Jose Hernandez in the eighth.

Arizona 5, Florida 3--Randy Johnson won for the sixth time in as many starts this season, striking out 10 in seven innings to help the Diamondbacks win at Miami.

Johnson didn’t match his dominating form of last Sunday, when he threw a two-hitter with 17 strikeouts against Colorado. He walked three of the first six Florida batters and gave up four hits.

Byung-Hyun Kim retired the final five batters for his fourth save.

Luis Gonzalez homered for Arizona, and Craig Counsell and Danny Bautista each had three hits.

Cincinnati 4, San Francisco 3--Aaron Boone’s run-scoring double sparked an eighth-inning rally at Cincinnati as the Reds won their sixth in a row.

Barry Bonds was hit by a pitch, walked three times and grounded out, extending his slump to 0 for 11. Bonds has only one homer since April 14, when he aggravated his right hamstring.

His walk in the eighth inning off Scott Sullivan (3-0) started a two-run burst that put the Giants ahead, 3-2. J.T. Snow’s RBI single tied it and ended the Giants’ 0-for-18 stretch with runners in scoring position.

Atlanta 9, Houston 0--Tom Glavine pushed his major league-leading earned-run average even lower, pitching seven scoreless innings to lead the Braves at Atlanta.

A night after Greg Maddux gave up a career-high 10 runs, Glavine (4-1) pitched a game more typical of the Atlanta staff. He gave up only three hits and ended April with an 0.89 ERA.

Chipper Jones went four for five with four runs batted in and the Braves knocked out Houston starter Tim Redding (0-2) after only three innings.

San Diego 10, Pittsburgh 1--The Padres finally gave Brett Tomko some run support, with Ryan Klesko’s two-run double highlighting a five-run third inning in a victory at Pittsburgh.

Tomko (2-1) made his fifth consecutive strong start, lowering his ERA to 1.30 by throwing a six-hitter for his first complete game of the season. The Padres had scored only nine runs in Tomko’s first four starts.

St. Louis 7, Montreal 6--Kerry Robinson singled off second baseman Jose Vidro’s glove to drive in the go-ahead run in the 11th inning at Montreal as the Cardinals ended the Expos’ winning streak at six.

J.D. Drew singled off Tomo Ohka (2-2) to lead off the 11th and, one out later, Jim Edmonds walked. Robinson hit a sharp grounder between first and second for an RBI single as the ball glanced off Vidro’s glove as he made a diving attempt.

Colorado 4, Philadelphia 1--John Thomson took a shutout into the eighth inning, and the Rockies ended a five-game losing streak at Denver in Clint Hurdle’s debut as manager.