The Mets have scored eight runs in their last three games and three or less runs in five of their last seven games.
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The Mets did that and took a step closer to the postseason by defeating Atlanta, 4-0, at Citi Field. He is batting.219 with three homers and 15 RBIs in 37 games since the Braves acquired him from the Cleveland Indians on August. 7 and.208 with five homers and 23 RBIs in 67 games overall this season. With their second win in six games, the Mets (85-65) increased their division lead over the Washington Nationals to 6 1/2 games and reduced their magic number to seven.
Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard will pitch the first two games of the four-game series against the Reds on Thursday and Friday.
It was the third time Verrett had filled in as a spot-starter, and the first time he wasn’t quite up to the task, coughing up five hits and four earned runs in five innings.
“I said to [Niese] the other day – we were talking about some situations that perhaps may happen down the road – and I said, ‘Hey look, I need right now two of the best starts you’ve ever made in a row, ‘” Collins said.
The Braves won for just the eighth time in 35 games. He walked one and struck out eight in the winning effort.
DeGrom’s limits aren’t preventative but restorative. He beat deGrom 2-1 at home in his major league debut June 19.
The way their bats are struggling, they’ll need it. Obviously, this goes against the nature of the fanbase, which remembers the devastating collapses late in the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but the Mets are still far from the point where panic should be setting in. He sent a solo shot to left-center in the second inning to make it 2-0. The problem is that’s the last offense the Mets would muster all evening.
Andrew McKirahan entered in the seventh and promptly allowed two more runs on Daniel Murphy’s double. The same applies for Freddie Freeman, who has turned in a solid 2015 season, but has seen his hitting statistic drop since previous year because of an absence of protection in the Atlanta lineup. This time, the left-hander tossed three-hit ball for six innings during an encouraging outing.
Miller was a double play away from escaping a bases loaded mess in the first.
Cespedes walked to load the bases with one out in the eighth, and Michael Cuddyer’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly to center off reliever Edwin Jackson scored Curtis Granderson. The season-long bad luck continued for Miller, whose winless streak reached 23 starts – the longest for a Braves pitcher since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.
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Sean Gilmartin and Hansel Robles had given the Mets three scoreless innings, but in the ninth Tyler Clippard served up a 1-2 changeup that Adonis Garcia roped for a two-RBI pinch-hit double to essentially end the game.
