The New York Mets defeat the Atlanta Braves 5-2

The New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 5-2 on Friday afternoon. The game took place at Champion Stadium in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Jeremy Hefner pitched five pretty good innings for the Mets and the bullpen did their job. Zach Lutz had two hits for the Mets offense, a bunch of guys had a hit. 
Hefner pitched five innings giving up five hits and two runs with a hit and seven strikeouts. Josh Edgin faced one batter and retired him, Scott Atchison pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up a hit and struck out one and Aaron Laffey got the win pitching 2 1/3 perfect innings with a strikeout.

Jordany Valdespin had a hit and an RBI, Colin Cowgill had a hit and Lucas Duda had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Andrew Brown had a hit and an RBI, John Buck had a hit and drew a walk and Travis d’Arnaud had a hit. Lutz had two hits, Brandon Hicks had a hit, an RBI and drew two walks and Jaimie Hoffman had a hit and an RBI. Hicks and Hoffman each hit a double and Duda hit a homerun. The Mets were 4-14 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base. Cowgill was caught stealing and Ruben Tejada committed an error.

Tim Hudson pitched six innings giving up five hits and two runs with two walks and a strikeout. Eric O’Flaherty pitched an inning giving up a hit and walking one, Cristhian Martinez took the loss pitching an inning giving up two hits and a run which was unearned and Cory Gearrin pitched an inning giving up two hits and two runs with a walk.

Ramiro Pena drew a walk, Freddie Freeman had a hit and an RBI and B.J. Upton had two hits. Dan Uggla had a hit, Juan Francisco had a hit and an RBI and Gerald Laird had a hit. Laird and Upton each hit a double, Francisco and Freeman each hit a homerun. The Braves were 0-8 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base. Constanza was caught stealing, Pastornicky committed an error and Johnson had an outfield assist.

Duda hit a solo homerun and Hicks hit an RBI double in the second to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Francisco hit a solo homerun in the third to cut the Mets lead in half. In the fourth Freeman hit a solo homerun to tie the game at two. Brown hit an RBI single in the eighth and in the ninth Hoffman hit an RBI double and Valdespin an RBI single to make it a 5-2 game and that was the final score.

The Mets record improved to 7-8 this spring and the Braves record dropped to 11-11. The Mets will host the Miami Marlins on Saturday afternoon and the Atlanta Braves will host the New York Yankees on Saturday evening.