The New York Mets (81-61) defeated the Atlanta Braves (56-87) by a score of 6-4 this evening for their sixth victory in a row.
Noah Syndergaard had the best road start of his rookie season, tossing seven dominating innings of one run baseball. Syndergaard only surrendered two hits and one walk while striking out eight Atlanta Braves. He left the game with the Mets leading 4-1.
However Tyler Clippard who came in for the eighth inning, could not hold that lead for Thor. Clippard, who has been solid all year let up a three-run homer to pinch hitter Adonis Garcia, his eighth of the year, to tie the game at four.
But these are the 2015 New York Mets and they don’t go down easy, ever. So in the top of the ninth the Braves sent reliever Arodys Vizcaino to the mound, one of the bright spots in a rough Atlanta season, and Travis d’Arnaud greeted him with a ground rule double.
Kelly Johnson then stepped to the plate and lined a scorcher down the right field line to score pinch runner Eric Young Jr, giving the Mets a 5-4 lead. The Mets would score an insurance run when Yoenis Cespedes drove home Johnson on a fielders choice with the bases loaded.
Jeurys Familia entered the ninth looking for save number 40 on the season. And in true La Familia fashion he disposed of the Braves with great ease to preserve the win.
Let’s also not forget the continuation of the “Yo” show. Yoenis Cespedes blasted another home run tonight in the eighth inning to give the Mets at the time what was a 4-1 lead. David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud both had RBI’s in the game
With the Washington Nationals losing to the Miami Marlins tonight, the Mets open up a 9 1/2 game lead in the NL East and cut their magic number to 12. They could clinch next week.
The Mets go for the series sweep tomorrow with Jon Niese (8-10, 4.36 ERA) on the mound and opposed by Braves rookie, Ryan Weber (0-1, 3.00 ERA) in a 1:35 PM series finale. If they pull it off, it will be the Mets first four-game sweep in Atlanta since July 4-7, 1985.
