``It seemed like after I threw my first pitch they were really into the game,'' Reed said.
After Reed (7-3) got two outs in the seventh inning, the crowd was on its feet when Wade Boggs came to the plate. New York manager Bobby Valentine and the rest of the Mets had obeyed a baseball superstition by not talking to Reed in between innings. Reed later said he never talks with anyone, anyhow.
However, a few innings earlier, Valentine had allowed himself to think about a no-hitter and knew with Boggs coming up in the seventh it would probably be Reed's toughest out all night.
Boggs, a .331 lifetime hitter who still obeys his own superstition by eating chicken before every game, then played villain by doubling to center on a 3-2 pitch to end Reed's bid.
As the ball bounced off the warning track in center, TV replays showed Reed wincing at what might have been.
``I was upset because I had thrown that same pitch to him in his previous at-bat, and he grounded out to second,'' he said. ``That one I just left over the plate a little bit.''
The shutout was the third of Reed's career and his first since 1992 with Kansas City. He struck out a career-high 10.
In other games:
BRAVES 7, RED SOX 6
At Atlanta, the Braves rallied for six runs in the ninth inning to stun Boston, winning on Andruw Jones's one-out, run-scoring single.
The ninth-inning disaster ruined a strong start by Boston's Derek Lowe, who was 0-5 with a 7.46 ERA in his first five starts. He allowed just five hits and a run in six innings.
INDIANS 8, PIRATES 0
At Cleveland, Jim Thome hit a colossal three-run homer and drove in four runs, and Bartolo Colon pitched a four-hitter for his second shutout and fourth complete game as the Indians beat Pittsburgh.
Colon (5-4) breezed through the Pirates, walking one and striking out three as Cleveland won for the 18th time in 23 games. Colon lowered his ERA to 2.89.
ASTROS 9, TIGERS 5
