Braves Benefit from Blunder

Jason Heyward’s three run homerun capped a six-run fourth inning on Friday for the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field in New York. The Atlanta rookie helped the Braves win 6-4 over the Mets, and stay three games behind the Phillies in the NL East race. The Braves still lead the NL Wildcard and pushed their advantage to a full game over the Padres. All six runs in the fourth frame were unearned after an error by Mets’ third baseman, David Wright. Tommy Hanson turned in six innings of five hit ball to get the win for Atlanta. Billy Wagner earned his 34th save with a perfect ninth frame.
The Mets led 1-0 in the second following an Ike Davis walk and a pair of base hits by Josh Thole and Lucas Duda. New York added two more runs in the frame off the Braves’ right-hander. Mets’ pitcher, Jon Niese added a single and Jose Reyes drove in the third run to give the home team a 3-0 edge. Atlanta would get all three runs back and then some during a four-hit fourth.
Wright misplayed a ground ball by leadoff man, Matt Diaz, to begin the inning. The Mets recorded two outs before Derrek Lee scored on a Melky Cabrera RBI single for the first Atlanta tally. After he withstood a shaky second inning, Hanson drew a full count walk to load the bases in the fourth. The Braves’ comeback rally was just starting. Omar Infante doubled off Niese to score a pair of runs, and Heyward followed with a three run blast. It was the 18th of the season for the young right-fielder.
Hanson allowed one run in the bottom of the fourth. Duda smacked a 2-0 offering for a solo homer, his first of the season. It provided the Mets some temporary life in a game that already saw Atlanta skipper, Bobby Cox, ejected during the second inning. But the Braves’ bullpen handled the rest, posting zeros through the final five frames. Hanson is now 10-11 as a starter. He won for the just the second time in his last 14 games and was previously 0-4 in his last six road starts. Niese fell to an even 9-9 on the season as the Mets’ four game winning streak was snapped.

Parting Points: A bunch of duds on the college football slate today…