Flushing, NY (My Sportsbook) - Johan Santana continued to dominate with seven innings of shutout ball, while Brian Schneider had a two-run home run as the New York Mets continued a hot stretch with their 10th win in the last 11 games, besting the Houston Astros 3-0 in the opener of a four-game series.

Santana (12-7) scattered eight hits while walking one and striking out five. The lefty is 5-0 over his last nine outings including his first shutout as a Met in his previous start Sunday at Pittsburgh.

"This is the time of season when you have to go deep in the game and try to help this team win," Santana said.

Luis Ayala pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season while Aaron Heilman tossed a perfect eighth in relief of Santana. David Wright had an RBI single in the first.

The Mets maintained a 2 1/2 game lead in the NL East with the victory, their fourth straight, as Philadelphia downed Los Angeles 8-1.

Roy Oswalt (11-9) matched the effort from Santana but gave up three runs in the early going on just four hits overall with six strikeouts and no walks in the complete game loss. The right-hander lost for the first time in his last seven outings.

"You gotta shut it down when you're going against Johan. You gotta throw a quality start," Oswalt said of his counterpart on the mound. "I've known Johan for a long time now, he's a competitor."

Ty Wigginton had two of Houston's eight hits as the club lost for the third time in four games.

Jose Reyes started the Mets off with a single in the first and moved to second on a wild pitch from Oswalt and to third on a sacrifice. Wright drove a single to right and the Mets had a 1-0 lead.

New York went back to work in the second. Ryan Church beat out an infield single and Schneider swatted a first-pitch fastball from Oswalt over the wall in right-center.

"Every win right now is big. We knew Johan was going to give us a chance to win," Schneider said. "It wasn't going to be easy getting runs off Oswalt. I was just trying to hit the ball hard somewhere and luckily some balls are gonna go out of the yard."

The Astros twice moved a runner to third but came up empty. Darin Erstad doubled Hunter Pence to third in the second with one away and Miguel Tejada doubled Wigginton to third in the fifth with two outs.

Game Notes

Houston leads the season series 3-1 after sweeping the Mets August 1-3 at Minute Maid Park...The Mets activated Church from the 15-day disabled list on Friday. He sustained a mild concussion on May 20 at Atlanta and was placed on the DL on June 9. Church was activated on June 29 before recurring symptoms forced him to the DL for a second time on July 8. To make room on the roster, the club optioned catcher Robinson Cancel to Triple-A New Orleans...Saturday's scheduled starters are Brandon Backe (7-12) for Houston and John Maine (10-7) for New York...It was announced during the game that Astros infielder Geoff Blum had his 2009 contract vested by virtue of his 250th plate appearance of the season in the second inning. The option will pay the 35-year-old $1.25 million plus bonuses next season.