A double dose of the reeling Mets seemed like the perfect balm for what’s been ailing the Braves. Four home runs and the emphatic return of Jair Jurrjens didn’t hurt either.
The Braves pulled off the doubleheader sweep Saturday by hitting four home runs in the first game, then watching Jurrjens return to his old familiar form in the second coming off his oblique injury. Jurrjens faced only one over the minimum in seven shutout innings in the night cap, a 4-0 shutout.
“The biggest positive today was Jurrjens is healthy,” said Eric Hinske, pretty resurgent himself, coming off the bench in Game 2 with his first three hits of the year. “He comes out, gives us seven scoreless, pretty much commanded both sides of the dish with all three, four of his pitches. Having him back is huge for the team.”
Jurrjens was making his first start since Sept. 14 after missing the first two weeks of the season with a strained right oblique. He pitched like he was back in 2009, fully healthy again and dominating. He gave up only two hits, walked one, and struck out four.
Only two batters reached second base on him, and one of those was on a sacrifice bunt.
“It’s a good feeling being able to help your team get a W, being out there and competing with them,” said Jurrjens, who gave up a single to Willie Harris, a double to Daniel Murphy, and little else. “It’s exciting. Being back out there is fun, and I hope I keep it going the rest of the season.”
The Braves gave Jurrjens four runs to work with by playing small ball, supplying 11 hits – 10 of them singles – off the Mets’ Mike Pelfrey. Hinske went 3-for-4 with an RBI in only his second start of the season.
With catcher Brian McCann getting the second game off, he got to hit in the cleanup spot and took advantage of the added protection.
“My swing has felt fine,” said Hinske, who was 0-for-8 entering Saturday. “I just haven’t really had a chance to do any damage. At-bats are hard to come by in April when you’re a bench guy, so I just tried to stay positive and do what they ask me. And today worked out.”
Their 11 hits Saturday night gave the Braves double-digit hits for only the second time in their past 12 games.
Saturday’s sweep assured the Braves of their first series win since opening weekend in Washington. Since then they had lost series since to Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Florida. The Mets, meanwhile, have lost seven in a row, including back-to-back doubleheaders on Thursday and Saturday.
“These can be really long days if you lose these games,” Hinske said. “Coming out on top is huge, and we needed it.”
The Braves powered past the Mets 4-2 in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday on four solo shots – two by Alex Gonzalez, one by Freddie Freeman and one by Chipper Jones against some patchwork pitching by the Mets.
Derek Lowe, the Braves Opening Day starter, by contrast, took advantage of some elusive run support to work through what he called a wobbly day.
“It was kind of a struggle, believe it or not,” said Lowe, now 2-2 with a 1.82 ERA. “Lot of line drives at people. My stuff wasn’t as sharp as it has been, but I’ll take it.”
The Mets, playing their second doubleheader in three days, sent reliever D.J. Carrasco out for the Game 1 start. Combined, the Braves had only nine at-bats worth of experience against him -- in the regular season anyway. Playing the Mets seven times in spring training (including two split-squads) paid off for Atlanta.
“I faced him a couple times in spring training,” Gonzalez said. “I remembered you’ve got to be ready for this guy – he throws a lot of strikes.”
Gonzalez hit a 2-2 slider in the second inning for a 2-0 lead and jumped on a 1-0 cut fastball in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. It was his ninth career multi-homer game and first since April 30 of last year against Oakland, as a member of the Blue Jays.
The Braves’ four home runs were the most they’d hit in a game since Aug. 22 last year in a 16-5 rout over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.
Freemen extended his career-high hitting streak to eight games and finally got a homer to show for all the hard-hit balls in the last few games. His rifle shot to right was the second home run of his young career and first since he homered off Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay last September.
For Jones, it was just a continuation of an old theme. His opposite-field first inning homer was the 45th of his career off Mets pitching, which matched Hall of Famer Hank Aaron for the fourth most all-time. The only three players to hit more homers off the Mets are in the Hall of Fame: Willie Stargell (60), Mike Schmidt (49) and Willie McCovey (48).
Lowe had more run support in the first four innings (three runs) than he’d had all season (two runs in three starts). The Braves had been shut out in each of his last two outings, both losses despite quality outings from Lowe.
Lowe gave up five hits in six innings but only two runs in his third straight quality start. He got a key double play grounder from Angel Pagan to escape the fifth having allowed only one run.
“It was one of those games where it didn’t really matter what the score was,” Lowe said. “I felt like at any point the game could kind of spiraled out, so it was just a constant trick-yourself game.”
Braves closer Craig Kimbrel gave up an infield hit in the ninth but shut the Mets down otherwise for his fourth save of the year.
The Braves will face more second-tier pitching Sunday. The Mets’ scheduled starter Chris Young was placed on the disabled list with right biceps tendinitis Saturday. The Mets are expected to call up Dillon Gee from Triple-A Buffalo.
