Santana leaves Cards hitless

• NATIONAL LEAGUE

For more than 50 years, the New York Mets chased that elusive no-hitter. Johan Santana finally finished the job.

Santana pitched the first no-hitter in team history, helped by an umpire’s missed call and an outstanding catch in left field in an 8-0 victory over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

After a string of close calls over the last five decades, Santana went all the way in the Mets’ 8,020th game.

“Finally, the first one,” he said. “That is the greatest feeling ever.”

He needed a couple of key assists to pull it off.

Carlos Beltran, back at Citi Field for the first time since the Mets traded him last July, hit a line drive over third base in the sixth inning that hit the foul line and should have been called fair. But third base umpire Adrian Johnson ruled it foul and the no-hitter was intact — even though a replay clearly showed a mark where the ball landed on the chalk line.

“I saw the ball hitting outside the line, just foul,” Johnson told a pool reporter.

The umpire acknowledged that he saw the replay afterward but declined to comment.

“It was in front of his face, and he called it foul. I thought it was a fair ball,” Beltran said. “At the end of the day, one hit wasn’t going to make a difference in the ballgame. We needed to score more runs and we didn’t do that.”

Hometown kid Mike Baxter then made a tremendous catch in left field to rob Yadier Molina of extra bases in the seventh. Baxter crashed into the wall, injured his shoulder and left the game.

Making his 11th start since missing last season following shoulder surgery, Santana (3-2) threw a career-high 134 pitches in his second consecutive shutout. Relying on a sneaky fastball and the baffling changeup that’s always been his signature, he struck out eight and walked five.

“Amazing,” Santana said after tossing the majors’ third no-hitter this year. “Coming into this season I was just hoping to come back and stay healthy and help this team, and now I am in this situation in the greatest city for baseball.”

Before the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said he planned to limit Santana to 110-115 pitches all season.

“I just couldn’t take him out,” a choked-up Collins said afterward.

Born in 1962, the Mets have been built on pitching when they’ve fielded their best teams. But neither Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver nor Dwight Gooden could throw a no-hitter for the Mets — though all three are among the seven pitchers who tossed one after leaving the team.

Giants 4, Cubs 3: Madison Bumgarner picked up his first win in nearly four weeks and host San Francisco beat Chicago.

Padres 7, Diamondbacks 1: Jesus Guzman’s two-run homer ignited a sixth-run eighth and San Diego beat visiting Arizona.

Rockies 13, Dodgers 3: At Denver, Wilin Rosario hit a two-run homer and Colorado took advantage of four Los Angeles errors.

Phillies 6, Marlins 4: Hector Luna had three RBIs and Philadelphia beat visiting Miami.

Reds 4, Astros 1: Jay Bruce homered and drove in two runs to lead Cincinnati at Houston.

Pirates 8, Brewers 2: Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata had three RBIs apiece, leading Pittsburgh at Milwaukee.

Atlanta at Washington, ppd., rain: The Braves-Nationals game was postponed and no makeup date was announced.

• AMERICAN LEAGUE

Rays 5, Orioles 0: At St. Petersburg, Fla., David Price scattered three hits over 7 1/3 innings and Tampa Bay beat Baltimore.

Indians 7, Twins 1: Jason Kipnis hit a grand slam and host Cleveland routed Minnesota.

Royals 2, Athletics 0: Felipe Paulino tossed six effective innings and Kansas City beat visiting Oakland.

Yankees 9, Tigers 4: Curtis Granderson hit a grand slam, leading New York at Detroit.

Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 2: Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings and Boston won at Toronto.

Angels 4, Rangers 2: At Anaheim, Calif., Mike Trout hit an RBI triple in the sixth and a tiebreaking two-run single in the seventh, leading Los Angeles past Texas.