After being shutout by Johan Santana on the first day of the season, the Braves brought their bats with them on Tuesday night, knocking the veteran lefty out after just 55 pitches. Atlanta claimed an early lead and rode a solid performance out of Randall Delgado to a 9-3 victory.
Delgado was solid in 5.1 innings of work, allowing three runs on seven hits and three walks. He struck out five. His line is a bit misleading, given two poor defensive efforts that were ruled as hits and not errors.
Michael Bourn scored an early run in the first inning thanks to an error from left fielder Jason Bay. The wheels came off in the second inning; the Braves sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring five runs.
Dan Uggla walked to lead off the frame and Matt Diaz singled up the middle. Freddie Freeman worked a great at-bat (one where he was 11 pitches) and eventually clubbed a ball down the left field line for an RBI-double. Tyler Pastornicky followed with a 2-RBI double down the right field line to make the score 4-0.
With Pastornicky on second and Delgado bunting at the plate, Ike Davis fielded a ball and threw it wildly to third base, sending it towards the outfield seats. Pastornicky scored and Delgado moved into second. After getting his first out of the inning, Santana allowed another single to Jason Heyward, making the score 5-0. That would be the final pitch he would throw, exiting the game after recording just four outs.
The Mets tacked on two runs in the top of the fourth on a couple of singles, but Atlanta responded in the fifth with two runs of their own courtesy of a Diaz sacrifice fly and RBI-single from Freeman. New York pushed across another run in the sixth to cut the deficit to 8-3.
Juan Francisco belted a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning, his first of the season. Given that Wednesday's game is set for a noon start, do not be surprised to see him in the lineup for Chipper Jones.
Atlanta is now 6-5 on the young season, while the Mets dropped to 7-4.
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