NEW YORK — Perhaps it was coincidence, but the Braves’ comeback against the Mets Saturday night kicked into a higher gear soon after Bench coach Terry Pendleton was ejected in the fifth inning.
He was tossed after arguing with home-plate umpire Marty Foster, when Chase d’Arnaud was thrown out for a caught-stealing to end the inning. Matz threw to first base as d’Arnaud sprinted toward second, and Pendleton, who came on the field, argued it should’ve been a balk.
D’Arnaud’s two-out RBI single in the fifth drove in the first run for the Braves, cutting the Mets’ lead to 3-1 in a game the Braves went on to win 4-3.
Jeff Francoeur hit a solo homer off Mets starter Steven Matz in the sixth inning, Tyler Flowers homered off Jim Henderon on the first pitch of the seventh, and Ender Inciarte doubled in the eighth and made two brilliant, bold baserunning plays to score the go-ahead run.
“We’ve been beat up,” Francoeur said, referring to the Braves’ historically bad start to the season. “So to be able to fight back and be able to do what we’re doing here says a lot about our team, our coaches – I love seeing TP get tossed tonight. We were all in the dugout saying, ‘Go get his ass!’ once he got tossed. It fired us up.
“Right now we’re enjoying this, so it would be nice to come in tomorrow and get a sweep.”
Pendleton moved from first-base coach to bench coach last month after manager Fredi Gonzalez was fired. The former National League MVP doesn’t erupt often, so when Pendleton does, players usually know it was for good reason.
