NEW YORK -- Nothing has come easy for the Braves since the All-Star break, and Sunday was no different.
They left New York with a 6-5 win over the Mets and a series victory, but just one of their lengthy hitting streaks was still intact, Eric O’Flaherty’s ERA was tarnished for the first time in two months and a series of rinky-dink hits nearly spoiled their three-homer game.
That just provided all the more drama for Chipper Jones in a New York backdrop. The Braves veteran came off the bench to torment the Mets again, rolling a single through the right side in the ninth inning to score Alex Gonzalez with the deciding run.
“I hope that somewhere in the stands somebody was saying to themselves, ‘Oh no, not him, not now,’” Jones said.
To that point, the Braves had gone 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Gonzalez dropped in a bloop single to lead off the ninth, which might have hurt the Mets more than his two-run homer off the second-deck facade four innings earlier.
Jose Constanza bunted him into scoring position and hard-throwing reliever Bobby Parnell refused to give pinch-hitting Eric Hinske anything to hit on a four-pitch walk with first base open.
Parnell wouldn't give Jones a fastball. On his third consecutive slider, however, Jones made contact.
“We felt like they got back in the game with a little bleeder here and bloop there,” Jones said. “I guess it’s fitting that we got a couple at the end of the game to help us win. That guy is out there throwing 100 mph; it’s pretty difficult to square him up. We got two to fall in.”
It has been 12 years since Jones used a home-run barrage against the Mets to help win his National League MVP award, but he’s still got something left. He’s hit .318 with 47 homers and 148 RBIs for his career against the Mets. He has a son named Shea, after their old stadium.
“I enjoy playing here in New York on this stage,” Jones said. “It’s rough and it’s chaotic, but it’s fun at the same time.”
The Braves felt the same way about this 3-3 trip. They're 12-11 since the All-Star break and headed to Florida with just their second series victory in their past five.
Dan Uggla takes a 28-game hitting streak to Florida. He extended it with a single in the eighth inning, the fourth time in this streak it came down to his final at-bat. He’s tied with Marquis Grissom (1996) for the third-longest streak in Atlanta history, just three games shy of Rico Carty’s record.
Freddie Freeman had his hitting streak end at 20 games, going 0-for-4 with a walk.
Jason Heyward was in the Braves lineup for only the second time in five games and made it count with his 12th homer of the year, and fifth since April.
The Braves used Heyward's and back-to-back homers by Gonzalez and Constanza, the first of his major league career, to take a 5-2 lead.
Mike Minor, filling in for the injured pitcher Jair Jurrjens, gave the Braves 5 2/3 solid innings and left with the three-run lead. But he was charged with four runs after O’Flaherty gave up Daniel Murphy's swinging bunt and Willie Harris' single past a diving Freeman.
O’Flaherty previously had allowed only five of his 22 inherited runners to score. An inning later, he gave up his first earned run since June 1 on Angel Pagan's double past a charging Martin Prado in left field. That tied the game 5-5.
“I thought [Minor] did a nice job,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I thought he deserved a better fate really. Even Eric O’Flaherty there -- he got two ground balls against those two lefties. But you put the ball in play, stuff like that happens.”
