The New York Mets combined a solid start by Jon Niese with a clutch bomb by Lucas Duda to crash Chipper Jones’ farewell party and beat the Atlanta Braves by the score of 3-1 on Friday night.
Jon Niese made his final start of the season and aside from a solo home run to Freddie Freeman, the young southpaw pitched a solid seven innings, allowing just one run on fours hits, three walks and striking out three. Niese finishes his season with a 13-9 record in 30 starts while posting a 3.40 ERA in a career-high 190 1/3 innings.
The bullpen delivered a nice effort with Manny Acosta and Justin Hampson combining for a scoreless eighth, while Bobby Parnell pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his sixth save of the season in eleven save opportunities.
The Mets combined for just six hits on the night, but two came from Lucas Duda including a huge three-run homer off of Tim Hudson in the seventh inning. It was the 15th home run of the season for Duda who had a classic nine pitch at-bat before he ripped into a hanger..
Break up the Mets… The Amazins’ have won seven of their last eight games, and with tonight’s win the Mets will avoid finishing in last place in the NL East. It will be fourth place for the fourth straight season.
The Mets will hook up for the second game of their weekend series with the Braves tomorrow night at Turner Field. Look for Chris Young to oppose Mike Minor at a 7:10 PM start.
