Gosselin’s hit lifts Braves to 5-3 win and 4-0 start
Though he didn’t enter until the eighth inning and never batted, Braves rookie sensation Jace Peterson made arguably the biggest offensive play of the game Friday. Before the guy who started in his place at second base got the biggest hit.
Phil Gosselin’s two-run, two-out single in the eighth lifted the Braves to a stirring 5-3 win against the Mets in the home opener at Turner Field, and closer Jason Grilli pitched a hitless ninth to secure the first 4-0 start for the Braves since 1994.
“We are jelling pretty quick,” said Grilli, who showed his emotions as he came off the field, pumping up an already ebullient crowd of 46,279 that welcome home the new-look Braves after their season-opening sweep at Miami. “Everybody knows their role. We are seizing the opportunity. Hometown crowd, hometown ceremony.
“Everybody was pretty fired up for it. It was good to not disappoint tonight.”
The turning point in the late innings came after Chris Johnson, who had three of the Braves’ nine hits, doubled to lead off the eighth inning of a tie game, and Peterson pinch-ran. One out later the rookie gave the home fans a thrill by juking to avoid a tag attempt by third baseman David Wright on a fielder’s choice grounder by Andrelton Simmons.
Johnson was glad that Peterson had pinch-run for him.
“Yeah, because I don’t think I have the athletic ability to make that move he made,” he said, smiling. “I don’t think I move that quick laterally.”
Wright fielded the grounder in front of the base and looked toward first base before turning to tag Peterson, who at the last moment juked to the outside and around Wright, leaving the veteran with a look of bewilderment.
“You have a split second to make a decision,” Wright said. “I made a decision. It turned out to be the incorrect one. You go field the ball, and obviously you want to get that runner out of scoring position. I thought I could make a tag on him. He made a nice move to the outside and I just couldn’t catch up with him.”
Peterson said, “Once he went up, I knew I could get it. He was looking at first, and by the time he saw me, I was by him.”
Simmons went all the way to an uncovered second base on the play, and the Mets intentionally walked pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo to load the bases with one out.
Cameron Maybin, who had led off the first inning with a homer, struck out for the second out of the eighth, leaving it up to utility infielder Gosselin, who made his first start of the season Friday in place of Peterson against a left-hander.
Gosselin ran the count to full and fouled off a pitch before driving a ball to center, bringing home Peterson and Simmons and sending the crowd to a frenzy. The hour-plus rain delay before the game had been well worth the wait.
“My first four at-bats weren’t too good, but going up in that situation, nothing else matters except the one in front of you,” said Gosselin. “So I just tried to have my best at-bat of the day there. (Reliever Rafael) Montero finally missed with one out over the plate. I put a good swing on it.”
Grilli gave up a walk splendid night by five Braves relievers, who had eight strikeouts with one hit and one walk allowed in four innings. That raised their season totals to 21 strikeouts with four hits and three walks in 15 scoreless innings.
“It’s been awesome,” said Grilli, who has made for a smoother-than-expected transition from All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel, right down to flames — albeit blue flames to look as if from a grill — shown on the scoreboard and LED boards when he entered the game. “Everybody is coming into their own. Everybody is accountable for what they are doing. The confidence is high. Everybody has their roles defined, figuring it out.”
Eric Stults, in his Braves debut, didn’t allow a runner to reach base through three innings, and the Braves built a 3-0 lead with two runs in the first inning and an unearned run in the third.
But trouble arrived abruptly for Stults in the fourth when the veteran left-hander walked Curtis Granderson to start the inning, after Stults had been ahead 0-2 in the count. Wright followed with a long homer to center field, also with two strikes, and John Mayberry Jr. drove the next pitch to the left-field bleachers for a 3-3 tie.
Stults gave up seven hits and three runs in five innings before the Braves’ bullpen took over, beginning with three scoreless innings and seven strikeouts from the combination of rookies Cody Martin and Brandon Cunniff, lefty Luis Avilan and veteran Jim Johnson.
Maybin homered on the second pitch from Mets lefty Jonathon Niese, in Maybin’s second start since coming from the Padres in the Kimbrel trade Sunday on the eve of opening day. It was the second career homer for the slender veteran, who hit the other at Turner Field, too, in an August 2010 game for the Marlins. Maybin homered Friday on the second pitch thrown by left-hander Jonathan Niese.
“A good pitch to hit, a good pitch to drive,” Maybin said. “I’m an aggressive guy. I got a good pitch to handle, put a good swing on it. We’ll take it.”
One out later, Nick Markakis reached on an infield error and scored after consecutive singles by Freddie Freeman and Jonny Gomes.
The Braves had another scoring opportunity in the second inning after Andrelton Simmons’ leadoff double. After advancing on a Stults sacrifice bunt, Simmons was thrown out trying to score on Maybin’s grounder to first base. Simmons briefly gave Braves fans a scare on the play by leading with his right shoulder – the one attached to the best infield throwing arm in baseball – as he barreled over catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who hung onto the ball.
Any concerns about Simmons were quickly alleviated in the next inning. He fielded d’Arnaud’s leadoff grounder near the back edge of the infield and, as Simmons’ momentum took him into the outfield grass, he leaped and made a sensational throw all the way across the infield on the fly just in time to beat d’Arnaud as first baseman Freddie Freeman did one of his patented splits maneuvers to stretch out at maximum length for the catch.
It might’ve seemed an impossible play by Simmons, were it not for the fact that he made the same play last season against the same batter, d’Arnaud. That play, perhaps even more difficult, killed a Mets eighth-inning rally in a 3-2 Braves win Aug. 27 at New York. When Simmons did it to him again Friday, d’Arnaud could only look at the shortstop and smile as he trotted back to the Mets dugout, as if to say, you’ve got to be kidding.
The Braves pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third inning when Gomes drew a two-out walk, Chris Johnson doubled, and Christian Bethancourt hit a grounder to shortstop Wilmer Flores, who threw wide to first base on a night when just about every ball hit to the shaky Mets infielder became an adventure of some kind.
“Lot of fun,” Chris Johnson said of the win. “Great crowd, too. Especially with all the rains and the delay. So kudos to everybody that came out and supported us even with all that.”
