NEW YORK – The way Sunday's game was going at Citi Field, the Braves had to be eyeing those planes flying overhead out of nearby LaGuardia Airport with envy.
The Mets had chased Tim Hudson after only four innings, shut out the Braves for six innings, and unleashed Jose Reyes on them for another night of torment.
The Braves mustered some ninth inning consolation on a pinch-hit three-run homer by Diory Hernandez but still lost 6-4, and headed for their charter flight to Florida unhappy.
“It’s just one of those days, just one of those series,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We didn’t pitch very good and we didn’t swing the bats until the end in three of the games.”
The Braves have lost consecutive series to the Padres and Mets but still only trail the Phillies by 3 ½ games in the NL East.
They’re only one-half game behind the second-place Marlins and can overtake them in a three-game series starting Tuesday in Florida. But they’ll have to score runs to do it, and those have been hard to come by.
“We haven’t played particularly well the last two series; we need to turn that around,” Gonzalez said. “…Deep down inside, in my gut and my heart I know we’re going to be able to swing the bats and hopefully it’s soon.”
The Braves had gone 15 scoreless innings before Brian McCann’s solo homer to lead off the seventh, and it was the only run they managed in eight innings against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
The Braves rallied with a walk and a double off former Braves reliever Manny Acosta in the ninth to set up Hernandez for a homer off closer Francisco Rodriguez, the second pinch hit homer of his career. But it was a little late.
The Mets, meanwhile, had started early. Reyes reached base in his first three plate appearances against Hudson, doubled, and scored two runs including one on a wild pitch where he all but ran over Hudson who was trying to tag him out.
It was that kind of night for Hudson, who gave up five runs on seven hits in his second short outing in the past three. Hudson left his May 20 start in Anaheim after 3 2/3 innings with a stiff back but said Sunday night his back was not a factor.
“Physically I felt really good, probably the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Hudson, who’s lost three of his past five starts while his ERA climbed from 3.09 to 4.14. “It’s just I made some mistakes and didn’t really get away with any of them.”
He gave up five hits to the first 11 batters he faced and a pair of two-out RBI hits. He pitched around Reyes for a two-out walk in the second only to surrender a run-scoring single to Justin Turner behind him.
Reyes finished the series 5-for-12 in the series with a double, two triples, four runs and four RBIs.
McCann suggested afterward Hudson might have thrown too many strikes and Hudson agreed.
“I just didn’t really make good pitches whenever they were up there being aggressive like that,” Hudson said.
After scoring six runs on Friday night the Braves offense ran out of ideas. After being shutout by the Mets in a 5-0 loss on Saturday night, the Braves didn’t score Sunday until McCann launched a solo home run off Dickey to lead off the seventh inning. They reached second base only three times in eight innings against the knuckleballer.
“It’ll come around,” McCann said. “We’ve just got to stay the course. It’s such a long season… You’ve got to squeak out wins when things aren’t going your way. And I think we’ve done that. We’re not playing our best baseball right now, but we’re getting a win here and there and we’re staying close.”
