The Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 6-1 on Thursday night, for their 72nd loss of the season and putting them at ten games under .500.
Jon Niese pitched a solid game. He got through 7.1 innings with 5 K’s, 1 BB and giving up 9 hits and 3 ER. His velocity was still not at his usual low 90’s. He threw 93 pitches of which 64 were strikes. Unfortunately, he took the loss.
Mike Minor was dominant coming off of his near no-hitter in his last outing. He was perfect through 4 innings. His final line was 7 innings pitched with 5 K’s, 0 BB’s, 4 hits and 1 ER. He through 98 pitches, 65 for strikes.
Minor helped his cause with two hits on the night, an RBI single in the 2nd and a leadoff double in the 8th. Minor came around to score in the 8th on a triple off the bat of Emilio Bonifacio. The rally continued as Freddie Freeman singled in Bonifacio.
Duda broke up the perfect game in the 5th inning with a leadoff single to right. He moved to second on a sacrifice groundout and was stranded there.
Granderson led off the 7th inning with an infield hit. David Wright followed by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to end the likes of any potential Mets rally.
The Mets started the 8th inning with a double to right-center off the bat of Travis d’Arnaud. Eric Campbell followed with an RBI single into centerfield. Wilmer Flores moved Campbell to second-base. After a Ruben Tejada flyout, Kirk Nieuwenhuis pinch-hit and drew a two-out walk. Juan Lagares followed with a sharply hit ball to second that was scooped up by Tommy La Stella to end the rally.
Carlos Torres pitched .2 innings to relieve Niese, striking out both hitters he faced.
Dice-K made his return from the disabled list in the 9th inning. He gave up a single to Tommy La Stella. Two batters later, Ryan Doumit hit a pinch-hit, two-run bomb to right-center field. A couple two out hits, a double by Jason Heyward and a single by Emilio Bonifacio ended the outing for Dice-K. Dana Eveland came in and struck out Freddie Freeman to end the damage.
The core of the Mets lineup, Granderson, Wright and Duda went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
What’s next: The Mets and Phillies hook up for a weekend set at Citi Field. Jacob deGrom (6-6, 3.13) will start the Friday night opener and goes up against Phillies right-hander David Buchanan (6-7, 4.21). First pitch is at 7:10 PM.
