The Mets lose a tough one in Atlanta

The New York Mets were defeated by the Atlanta Braves by the score of 8-7 on Saturday evening. The game took place at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. R.A. Dickey started for the Mets and he wasn’t very good once again. The Mets bullpen wasn’t very good again also. Ruben Tejada, David Wright and Jordany Valdespin all had good games. Andres Torres led the Mets offense though. Tommy Hanson didn’t pitch very well but the Braves bullpen did pitch well. Freddie Freeman led the Braves offense. 
Dickey pitched five innings giving up eight hits and five runs. He walked two and struck out four. Josh Edgin pitched an inning walking one and striking out three, Jon Rauch pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and Tim Byrdak pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a run and a walk. Pedro Beato pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a run with a strikeout and Bobby Parnell blew his fourth save of the season and took his second loss of the season. Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and a run with a strikeout. Hanson pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up nine hits and six runs. He walked two and struck out five. Chad Durbin pitched 1/3 of an inning giving up two hits and striking out one, Luis Avilan faced one batter and struck him out and Cristhian Martinez pitched one inning giving up a hit and a run with two strikeouts. Anthony Varvaro pitched one inning giving up a hit and striking out two and he picked up his first win of the season. Craig Kimbrel earned his 27^th save of the season pitching a perfect inning striking out the side.

Tejada had two hits and two RBI, Valdespin had two hits and an RBI and Ike Davis had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Daniel Murphy had a hit, Kirk Nieuwenhuis drew a walk and Josh Thole had two hits and an RBI. Torres had three hits and an RBI and Justin Turner had a hit and an RBI. Davis, Thole and Torres each had a double. Davis hit a homerun and the Mets were 6-13 with runners in scoring position with eight men left on base. Nieuwenhuis was caught stealing, Thole had a passed ball and Torres had an outfield assist.

Michael Bourn had two hits and two RBI, Martin Prado had two hits and an RBI and Jason Heyward had two hits, an RBI and drew a walk. Freeman had three hits and two RBI, Brian McCann had a hit and drew a walk and Dan Uggla had a hit and drew a walk. Eric Hinske had a hit, two RBI and drew a walk, Matt Diaz drew a walk. Hinske and Freeman each had a double. The Braves were 6-15 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

In the second inning Thole hit an RBI double to give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Hinske hit a two run double in the second and Bourn hit an RBI single to make it 3-1 Braves. Davis hit an RBI single and Torres had an RBI single in the fourth to tie the game at three. Freeman hit a two run double in the fifth inning to make it 5-3 Braves. It came after a controversial play where the umpires said that the Mets had caught a ball and got a double play. They then changed the call and the Braves scored after that. The Mets manager Terry Collins got ejected. Turner hit an RBI single in the sixth, Tejada had an RBI single and Valdespin had an RBI single to make it 6-5 Mets. Tejada had an RBI single in the eighth to make it 7-5 Mets. Bourn had an RBI single, Prado had an RBI single and Heyward had an RBI single in the eighth inning. The score became 8-7 Braves and that was the final score.

The Mets record fell to 46-42 and the Braves record improved to 48-39. The Mets will try and avoid a three game sweep on Sunday afternoon.