Braves beat Mets in bottom of ninth

"It showed we're in this for the long haul," Church said. "Regardless of what happens, we're going to give everything we've got."

The Braves lost starter Derek Lowe after two innings because of a blister on his right ring finger and then watched Mike Gonzalez depart with a stiff back after giving up the go-ahead home run to pinch hitter Omir Santos. But the Braves rallied back in a wild ninth, with a couple of balls down the first base line.

Garret Anderson started it by doubling down the first baseline, even though Murphy was playing close to the line. It was his first hit in three at-bats against his former Angels teammate, Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.

"I'm just looking for something over the plate, a mistake to hit, like I do off any other pitcher," Anderson said.

After Rodriguez hit Brian McCann with a pitch, Yunel Escobar sacrified both runners into scoring position. Rodriguez walked Adam LaRoche intentionally and then gave up the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Omar Infante.

That brought up Church, who played the hero on Murphy's error.

"(The ball) had a lot of topspin on it going toward the bag," Church said. "It seemed like something was going to happen. It might have been in-between (hops). As soon as I saw it run up off his arm, into the air, you know (pinch runner) David Ross was running regardless, so touch the bag and hope for the best."

The Mets continued to bring out the worst in Lowe, who gave up eight runs in one inning against them on Aug. 18. He gave up three runs in two innings Wednesday night in his shortest outing since a playoff tune-up against Baltimore for the Red Sox in 2004.

"I did it warming up," said Lowe, who is 2-2 with a 6.83 ERA in six starts since that Aug. 18 loss to the Mets. "We put Super Glue on it, but it was hot, and it kept coming off. We just talked - is it worth it to keep going ripping it instead of stopping where we were?"

Lowe still expects to be ready for his next start on Monday in New York.

Then in the seventh, Gonzalez had to leave with a stiff back after giving up the go-ahead home run to pinch hpritter Omir Santos.

Gonzalez, who has given up three homers in his past eight appearances, is considered day-to-day. Manager Bobby Cox said Gonzalez had a back spasm a few days earlier.

"We called down there in the fifth, sixth inning to see if we could count on him and he said 'I'm fine,'" Cox said. "When he got out there he wasn't fine."

Chipper Jones did his sore left groin no favors during a pinch hit at-bat in the eighth but he thinks he might be able to return for the series finale Thursday.

"I took 100 swings underneath and I didn't feel it one time that's why I didn’t even think about it," Jones said. "I guess there's no simulating a game-intensity swing. Going to see how it feels tomorrow and see if I can play. It didn't feel great, but I might be able to go."

Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs against his former team, but his strikeout with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth cost the Mets some needed insurance.