Their opponents, the New York Mets, are in the thick of the NL wild-card race, and veteran right fielder Jay Bruce may not have any time left to snap out of a almost two-month slump. Manager Terry Collins hopes for a speedy return.
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Yanked for a guy who hadn’t gotten a hit in the majors since May and was batting.159, at that.
New York Mets’ Yoenis Cespedes reacts after striking out swinging for the final out with Asdrubal Cabrera at first base in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the Atlanta Braves in a baseball game, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in New York. “I talked to him the inning before and said, ‘Hey, if they bring that lefty in, I’ve got to hit.’ And he looked me right in the eye and said, ‘You do what you’ve got to do, ‘” because he’s a pro. “But my job is to try to win the game, in my opinion. “(Collins) said ‘just be ready.’ I respect the manager’s decision.
The Mets lost to last-place Atlanta for the second straight day. It leads the NL wild-card race by one game over San Francisco and St. Louis.
Bruce ranks among the NL leaders with 29 home runs and 91 RBI but has struggled mightily since the Mets got him August 1 from the Reds for two young players.
“Right now he is”, Collins said.
The last pitcher to hold the Braves below 8 hits was Madison Bumgarner (6) of the Giants.
“Baseball’s just a really amusing game”, he said. “Right now is not that time”. “I don’t need it”.
The Giants have been terrible since the All-Star break and in recent weeks have had a really bad habit of blowing leads because their bullpen is a mess right now.
“It could have been a lot worse”, Maddon said.
The Braves’ current winning streak began with two victories at home over NL East-leading Washington.
“It’ll be fine”, Lester said.
Atlanta is 51-63 under Snitker and needs to win just three of its final 11 games to avoid the franchise’s first 100-loss season since 1988. The Giants pulled into a three-way tie with the Mets and Cardinals for the two NL wild cards. He gave up six hits while striking out seven and walking one.
The Mets have been saved by a soft September schedule, but they have been without Matt Harvey since early July, just lost Jacob deGrom and also are without one of their biggest bats in Neil Walker. The left-hander also was lifted by Roberts with a flawless game in progress after seven innings this month because of concerns about a recurrence.
Rookie shortstop Dansby Swanson had three singles and three RBIs – including a two-run single in the seventh that capped the Braves’ scoring – while Ender Inciarte had an RBI single in the second.
Toronto moved a game ahead of Baltimore and remained 2½ games ahead of Detroit. He delivered at least six innings for the sixth consecutive start last time out, going undefeated with a 2.29 ERA over that stretch.
Happ was the patient beneficiary when the Jays took the lead with an eight-run fourth inning.
“Every time I face them, I’ve got a plan”, Teheran said in a postgame interview.
Weber has been fortunate to walk away without a decision in a pair of encounters with NY in his career, yielding seven runs on 11 hits – three homers – in 8 1/3 innings.Colon inproved to 4-0 with a 2.29 ERA in his last six outings on Friday after scattering three hits over seven innings in a 3-0 triumph against Minnesota.
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Even so, this streak – now at 19 games – has seen Atlanta hit well despite a bunch of well-regarded pitchers: Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg (though he didn’t last), Gio Gonzalez, Jose Fernandez, Vince Velasquez, Noah Syndergaard, and Bartolo Colon among them. Jose Ramirez entered and allowed two of the first three men to reach before Curtis Granderson stroked an RBI double to make it 5-2.
