NEW YORK — The Braves realize that if their own pitchers hung zeroes on the scoreboard almost every inning, getting only a two-run homer every 24 innings from their own offense is a recipe for abject failure.
That’s not what Braves hitters are trying to do, but that’s how it has worked out this season and the end of the last one.
Martin Prado’s two-run homer in the fifth inning Saturday accounts for the only Braves runs through two games, and their 4-2 loss against the New York Mets at Citi Field left the Braves winless (0-2) against a team picked to finish last in the National League East.
“No one is by no means panicking or worried about are we on track,” said right fielder Jason Heyward, who had two walks and a triple in his first three plate appearances, then struck out in the ninth inning after Freddie Freeman’s leadoff single. “We’re going up to the plate trying to put a good at-bat, get a good pitch to hit, and the first two games it hasn’t happened.”
Jair Jurrjens (0-1) was charged with seven hits, including two homers, three runs and three walks in 4 1/3 innings as the Braves lost for the seventh consecutive time, dating to last season.
Prado’s homer ended a streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings for the Braves since Dan Uggla’s two-run homer in the third inning of the 2011 finale, a 13-inning loss to Philadelphia.
The Braves are 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in two games, including line-outs by newcomer Juan Francisco to end the fourth and sixth innings Saturday.
“They’re just not falling in,” said Freeman, who grounded into a double play after Uggla’s leadoff walk in the sixth. “We had a couple of opportunities. I hit into that double play to kill a rally. It’s how they fell today. You can’t really stress out. It’s two games. We’ve just got to go out there and try to salvage the series tomorrow.”
After finishing spring training with a pair of encouraging starts against Houston split-squad lineups, Jurrjens was a model of inefficiency Saturday, requiring 102 pitches (65 strikes) to get 13 outs and rarely topping 88 mph on the radar gun. He gave up solo homers by David Wright in the first inning and Lucas Duda in the fourth.
Duda also homered off Braves newcomer Chad Durbin in the seventh for the first multi-homer game of his career.
Prado’s homer tied the score 2-all in the fifth, but the Mets regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. Jurrjens gave up a walk and a single with one out, and Josh Thole singled off Livan Hernandez in the converted starter’s Braves debut and first relief appearance since his major league debut Sept. 24, 1996.
“[Jurrjens] settled down at one point in the game and pitched pretty decent,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But 102 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, after we came back and scored to tie the game — it probably wasn’t his best outing.”
Jurrjens said his off-speed pitches were ineffective and that he was bothered by chilly conditions that made the baseballs slick (it was 55 degrees, sunny and breezy).
“My change-up was good sometimes, and then I’d lose the feeling,” he said. “My slider was awful till the last couple of innings when I threw a couple for strikes. ... I’m not really happy with my performance and not helping the bullpen out.”
The Braves will start Mike Minor against Jonathon Niese on Sunday in a matchup of left-handers, then fly to Houston for a three-game series before their home opener Friday night against Milwaukee.
“We just can’t string anything together it seems like,” said Gonzalez, whose Braves have scored nine runs in 67 innings during the seven-game losing stretch since Sept. 24. “They’ll come. The at-bats are getting good. We had first and second there in the ninth inning against the closer.”
Pinch-hitter Eric Hinske’s two-out single off Mets closer Frank Francisco gave the Braves runners at first and second, but pinch-hitter Matt Diaz struck out on four pitches to end the game.
