The New York Mets (11-15) were defeated by the Atlanta Braves (11-14) by a score of 9-7 at SunTrust Park Tuesday evening.

Pitching:

Matt Harvey was on the mound for the Mets tonight and he struggled. The velocity was there as Matt got it up as high as 98 MPH on the gun at one point, but the off-speed stuff was flat and Harvey struggled with his control. It’s pretty clear that Harvey is still feeling his way back from a very difficult TOS surgery and he isn’t quite there yet. Harvey went 5.1 innings allowing six runs while walking three and striking out two.

Harvey was pulled with two on and one out in the sixth inning. Josh Edgin was able to get out of the inning aided by an excellent throw from Juan Lagares to the plate to get Dansby Swanson.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Josh Smoker got a quick first out on Freddie Freeman but then allowed a single and a double to Matt Kemp and Nick Markakis. Smoker was pulled in favor of Fernando Salas. Salas, who has been awful lately, promptly gave up 2 hits and a walk to put the game completely out of reach making the score 9-3.

Paul Sewald came on for the Mets in the bottom of the eighth inning and was able to pitch a scoreless inning.

Offense:

In the bottom of the first inning, Michael Conforto got on base with a walk to get the Mets started. Two batters later Jay Bruce deposited his eighth home run of the season into the bleachers to give the Mets the early 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third inning, Asdrubal Cabrera tied the game at three with his third home run of the year.

In the top of the ninth inning, the Mets made things interesting.  Down 9-3, TJ Rivera, Juan Lagares, and Michael Conforto would all single to load the bases.  With two outs and the bases juiced, Jay Bruce hit a grand slam to make the score 9-7, his second home run of the game.

Notes:

Travis d’Arnaud left tonight’s game with a sore right wrist.

Lucas Duda was able to take some practice swings tonight as he is hoping to come back from a hyperextended elbow.

Jay Bruce set a career high with 6 RBIs in the game.

On Deck:

The Mets will play their third game of a four-game set with the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:35 PM. Jacob deGrom (1-1, 2.84 ERA), will look to get the Mets back on track against Bartolo Colon (1-2, 5.59 ERA).