To help his teammates shake off a lousy loss, Michael Conforto boosted morale and his batting average with a first inning leadoff homer to center off Julio Teheran.
Ender Inciarte reciprocated in the bottom of the inning with his own leadoff shot, and with the score tied at one, Teheran returned to the mound and retired the next nine batters.
But in the top of the fourth, Teheran’s pitching faltered, and the Amazins’ nailed him for five runs. Asdrubal Cabrera laced a liner to right, Jay Bruce blasted a double down the right field line, and Neil Walker’s base hit to center brought home Cabrera.
After Curtis Granderson loaded the bases with a walk, Jose Reyes tapped a soft groundout that plated Bruce, and T.J. Rivera’s RBI single and Michael Conforto’s two-run single gave starting pitcher Robert Gsellman a seemingly comfortable 6-1 lead.
Gsellman got into a little trouble in the fifth by way of Cabrera’s throwing error on Teheran’s routine ground ball and a walk to Inciarte. With runners on first and second and Freeman at the plate, the rookie uncorked a wild pitch that bounced directly back to catcher Travis d’Arnaud as Inciarte was nearing second, and Teheran frozen on second base, was hung out to dry in a rundown to third for the final out.
Terry Collins took a gamble on Gsellman in the sixth, and Freeman and Matt Kemp greeted him with back-to-back doubles. Josh Edgin and Hansel Robles got outs with run scoring consequences – Nick Markakis’ ground out RBI, and Garcia’s sac fly. And Curtis Granderson’s dazzling defense made up for his unproductive offense with a sliding catch of Lane Adams pinch-hit potential go-ahead line drive to center off Robles.
Jerry Blevins replacing Robles, and mowed down the Braves 1,2,3 in the seventh.
Jose Reyes tacked on some insurance in the top of the eighth with his third home run. In the bottom frame Addison Reed shook off a leadoff single by Kemp by striking out two of the next three batters he faced. And Jeurys Familia closed up shop with his second save giving Robert Gsellman his first win of the season. So just like that, the Mets win their first contest at Sun Trust Park with a stirring victory following a bleak Sunday in the nation’s capital.
