Which made it quite surprising when the banjo-hitting Braves tagged him for four runs and seven hits, four of them doubles, in his six innings. Granderson looked back Freeman and looped a throw to second, prompting Inciarte to take off for third. Brandon Snyder doubled off Matz to lead off the fifth, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then came home on a run-scoring groundout by Chase d’Arnaud. Sure, the two found time to catch up …
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A Savannah native who grew up a Braves fan, Gant was 4-5 with a 4.70 ERA in 11 starts for the Mets’ Double-A Binghamton affiliate last season before he was traded along with minor league pitcher Robert Whalen to the Braves in exchange for veteran infielders Johnson and Juan Uribe.
Mets: LHP Steven Matz (7-3, 2.71) has lost consecutive starts for the first time in his career and is winless in his last three outings. NY has outscored Atlanta by a 29-11 margin this season, with Asdrubal Cabrera leading the way by going 9-for-23 with two homers, four RBIs and as many runs scored in the six games. Jim Johnson then coaxed a flyout from Ty Kelly and struck out Curtis Granderson to secure the Braves’ win. “He competes well. He got us through six innings”.
Yoenis Cespedes homered on a curveball in the third inning and Flores on a fastball in the fourth, both clearing the original Great Wall of Flushing in left. Flowers homered leading off the seventh on Jim Henderson’s first pitch. Loney followed with his first triple since 2011 and scored on Rivera’s sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead. After he came out, Henderson told the Mets he felt shoulder impingement.
The possible catalyst is the impending return of righty Zack Wheeler, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2015.
All on a night when Harvey missed his pitches and for the moment that optimism of the three previous starts has left. Wheeler is expected back in July, but the 43-year-old Colon is 6-3 with a 3.01 ERA.
“When Zack Wheeler is ready to be a big-league pitcher again”, manager Terry Collins said, “there will be a pretty hefty discussion of what’s going to be best for us”. Braves RHP Mike Foltynewicz (bone spurs in right elbow), who was placed on the disabled list June 4 retroactive to May 31, threw off a mound Thursday.
Mets: C Travis d’Arnaud, who hasn’t played for the Mets since April 25 because of a strained right rotator cuff, is likely to be activated before Tuesday’s game against Kansas City.
“Just baseball. You make good pitches, you make bad pitches and in the course of a long season, you’re going to have starts where one of the things will go your way when you make bad pitches and another start, you make pitches that people hit and you don’t get away with those mistakes”, he said. Four in a row now – it’s called a winning streak, and it has happened before. 3B Flores was back in the starting lineup.
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Wilmer Flores was able to pinch hit a day after leaving a game early with a left hand contusion. The Mets beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Thursday while the Braves knocked off the Cincinnati Reds 7-2.
