NEW YORK -- It took the New York Mets organization 50 years to record their first no-hitter. It was evident Sunday, as Steven Matz took a no-hit bid against the San Diego Padres into the eighth inning that the Mets have a different outlook on the pitching feat because of their history.

The Mets' only no-hitter was thrown on June 1, 2012, by Johan Santana. At that time, Santana was a 33-year-old veteran with two Cy Young awards. He the clear star and leader of the New York pitching staff. He was also making his 11th start after missing the previous season following shoulder surgery. With manager Terry Collins in the dugout, Santana used 134 pitches to pull off the feat.

He was never the same.

Santana made 10 more starts and several trips to the disabled list, and he was done for the season in mid-August. In his final 10 starts, he was 3-7 with an 8.27 ERA. He reinjured the shoulder before the next season and had a second shoulder surgery and hasn’t pitched in the majors since.

Although it isn't certain that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the 134-pitch outing and the hastened end of Santana’s career, many in the Mets organization lament the aftermath of the no-hitter, and the organization’s attitude about them is different.

Matz was coming off a career-high 120 pitches Tuesday, and Collins was asked his thoughts when the pitch count stood at 95 on Sunday. He replied: "Had he got through the eighth inning, I was going to let him start the ninth, depending on what the eighth inning looked like. If he walked a couple guys and got up there pretty high, I wasn’t going to visit the Johan Santana scenario again, I can tell you that."

Matz had thrown 95 pitches when he opened the eighth inning. He struck out Jabari Blash, then gave up a single over the bag at first to Alexei Ramirez on his 105th pitch. That ended his day. Collins removed him from the game immediately. The Mets went on to win 5-1 at Citi Field, which gave them back-to-back victories for the first time since July 6 and 7.

After rationing their young pitchers last season to reach the playoffs, the Mets extended them as they made a run to the World Series. Their breadth of talented, young pitching is the reason expectations are high again this year and remain so even with Matt Harvey lost to season-ending surgery and Matz and Noah Syndergaard pitching with bone chips in their elbows that will require offseason procedures.

Staying healthy has been especially challenging for Matz, who missed two seasons after Tommy John surgery in 2010 and missed time during his excellent rookie season in 2015 because of a lat injury.

Collins said he began to think about Santana as he looked at Matz after the fifth inning Sunday.

"We really wanted to cut him back tonight because of the 120 [pitches] last time," Collins said. "I saw 65 or 70 [pitches], and I said 'Crap, here we go again.'"

Matz's throwing 120 pitches on Tuesday was by design. In this era of specialized relief pitching, many young starters believe the expectation is to get through six innings or about 100 pitches. The Mets want their great young arms to be acclimated to throwing as many as 120, now that they are past their rookie seasons. They need that conditioning, as they know pitchers are more prone to injury when fatigue impacts their mechanics.

"I’ll tell you it means a lot to the pitching staff," Collins said of the conditioning, "and not just here -- it means a lot to those guys sitting in [Triple-A Las] Vegas because, make no mistake, they’re looking at the box scores. When they see, 'Wow, they’re expected to throw 115 to 120 pitches a night,' it becomes something that’s organization-wide."

Collins wanted the no-hitter for his pitcher and everyone in the ballpark, but he wasn’t thrilled about the idea that it could be a close call.

“Because of my background in player development, I can’t stop looking at the big picture,” he said. “I’m not going to sacrifice this kid’s next year for one more inning, especially when you know he’s getting tired, and that’s when injuries are going to occur. So I wasn’t going to let that happen.”

Collins was relieved after the game ended, not only for a win that has the Mets two games out for the second NL wild card after a horrific week in which he had to challenge his players to play with more passion, but also because nothing dangerous happened.

What was he rooting for?

“I was hoping he was getting to the ninth inning with a no-hitter. I wanted to see the energy in the crowd,” Collins said. “I know how disappointed everybody is with what’s occurred this summer, but this is still a good team, expectations are still high, and we’re still the National League champions.

“The future is still here with [Jacob] deGrom, Matz, Syndergaard and a healthy Matt Harvey.”