The New York Mets are back at .500 after winning their third straight game, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 Thursday night at Shea.

Starter Claudio Vargas (5 2/3 innings, 4 ER, 5 H, 1 BB) earned the victory but not the no hitter, as Dodgers’ outfielder Juan Pierre led off the game with a single to center. That moves the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,372 Mets games without a no hitter, and also makes us update our No hitters killed by first at bat page for the 14th time this season.

Since the Mets first took the field in 1962, 892 potential no hitters have been broken up by an opponent’s leadoff hit.

The Washington Nationals’ Felipe Lopez led off with a double to right Wednesday night to bump the NoNoHitters.com count to 7,358 New York Games without a no hitter.

Claudio Vargas, a 29-year-old righthander called up from the AAA New Orleans Zephyrs, gave up the hit, which marks the 889th time a Mets pitcher has yielded an opening hit, and the 142nd potential no hitter broken up by a double.

That made us update our No hitters killed by first at bat page for the 11th time this season. Couldn’t we at least take these a little deeper into the game?

The Mets lost 5-3, and Vargas took the loss despite allowing just three hits and two earned runs over 6 1/3 innings of work. Reliever Aaron Heilman wasn’t much help, giving up three earned runs in his 1/3 of an inning, prompting choruses of boos from the Shea crowd.

In other Mets pitching woos news, the club designated starter Nelson Figueroa and reliever Jorge Sosa for assignment, meaning the club has 10 days to trade, release or send them to the minors.