NEW YORK — Jason Bay hit his first home run for the Mets to back another stingy outing by Johan Santana, and New York beat the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 in the opener of a doubleheader Tuesday for its fifth straight victory.
Santana (3-1) worked his way around early traffic on the bases, tossing six innings of four-hit ball to extend a run of splendid starts by the Mets' surprising rotation.
Luis Castillo hit a two-run single and New York pitched its second consecutive shutout, following Mike Pelfrey's 1-0 win Sunday night over Atlanta in a game that was called in the sixth inning because of rain.
More wet weather Monday night led to Tuesday's old-fashioned, single-admission, twinight doubleheader — but few fans made it to blustery Citi Field in time for the first pitch at 4:10 p.m.
There were still plenty of empty sections of dark green seats down low by the time David Wright dived headfirst to score on a second-inning wild pitch by Hiroki Kuroda (2-1).
A sparse crowd began filing in as the game wore on, but it was far from a full house as New York (11-9) improved to 7-1 on its 10-game homestand.
Pitching has been the key: Mets starters are 5-1 with a 1.17 ERA in the last 12 games, leading the club to a 9-3 record during that span.
As white napkins whipped around the outfield in the wind, Fernando Nieve worked two scoreless innings and Pedro Feliciano finished the five-hitter. With its fourth shutout of the season, New York tied San Francisco for the major league lead.
Oliver Perez was set to start for the Mets against knuckleballer Charlie Haeger in the nightcap, a matchup of winless pitchers.
Missing injured slugger Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers lost for the fourth time in five games. They have scored only five runs in their last four.
Wright drew a one-out walk in the second, went to third on Ike Davis' double and scored when Kuroda threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded.
Bay connected leading off the fourth, driving a 1-0 pitch over the 384-foot sign in left-center for his first home run since signing a $66 million, four-year contract with the Mets.
New York had been waiting for Bay to break out the power bat that produced 36 home runs and 119 RBIs for the Boston Red Sox last season.
Castillo made it 4-0 in the seventh with a two-run single off Ramon Troncoso after fellow reliever Jon Link had loaded the bases.
Notes
Dodgers manager Joe Torre said injured RHP Vicente Padilla won't throw for at least a week to 10 days and there is no timetable for his return. Padilla, who went on the disabled list Saturday, was diagnosed Monday with irritation of the radial nerve in his forearm, a condition the team said is very rare for pitchers. "It's not something that, you know, in this period of time we know it's going to be better. I don't think we know that. I think we have to wait and see," Torre said. … Santana's next start is scheduled for Sunday night at Philadelphia, with Perez slated to go Monday in Cincinnati. … This is New York's fourth straight series against a manager with at least 1,500 wins (St. Louis' Tony La Russa, Lou Piniella of the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta's Bobby Cox and Torre). The Mets said it's the first time in major league history that a team has faced four different managers with 1,500 victories in four consecutive series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.