NEW YORK – Braves starter Ervin Santana was pitching superbly through six innings Wednesday night against the Mets, then gave up three runs including a two-run homer in the seventh.
Dillon Gee pitched even better through seven innings for the Mets, and the Braves wasted multiple scoring opportunities in the final three innings. And that was the ballgame.
Travis d’Arnaud’s homer in the seventh turned a one-run lead into a 4-1 margin, and the Mets hung on to win by that score and hand the Braves their fourth consecutive defeat after a nine-game winning streak.
“It was a great game for both sides,” said Santana (7-6). “In a game like that, whoever makes the first mistake, that’s going to be the game right there. I just left that slider up, that was the game.”
The Braves, who are 6-6 against the Mets, went hitless in seven at-bats with runners in scoring position Wednesday to make them 5-for-38 in those situations during the skid. They’ve totaled eight runs and no homers in four games, and have one homer in 344 at-bats over their past 10 games.
“When we were winning nine in a row we were getting two-out hits,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves need a win Thursday to avoid being swept in the four-game series. “We were driving in runs, situational hitting. Obviously we’re not doing that now.”
The Braves had two runners on base with less than two outs in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, and failed to score in any of them.
“We gave ourselves a chance, at least, but still it’s not a good feeling,” who flied out a step or two in front of left-field wall with two on to end the eighth inning. “It’s not a good feeling losing three in a row, four in a row. It’s not a good feeling.”
Santana was charged with six hits and four runs in seven innings, with two walks and four strikeouts.
The score was tied, 1-1, when David Wright doubled to start the Mets’ seventh — a hit that looked like a single if left fielder Justin Upton had fielded and thrown more quickly and/or accurately to second base. He advanced on a fly out before Santana walked Bobby Abreu to put runners on the corners.
Kirk Niewenhuis’ sacrifice fly put the Mets back ahead, and three pitches later d’Arnaud crushed a 1-and-1 hanging slider for a 4-1 lead. D’Arnaud was hitting .211 with five homers before Wednesday and returned two weeks ago from a stint in Triple-A.
Gee (4-1) made his first start after nearly two months on the disabled list with a strained lat muscle near his pitching shoulder, and picked up where he left off. The right-hander was 3-1 with a 1.36 ERA in his last five starts before the injury, and he limited the Braves to six hits, one run and one walk with four strikeouts in seven-plus innings.
He gave up only two hits through seven innings, then allowed consecutive singles by Tommy La Stella and Gerald Laird (a surprise bunt single) to start the eighth. Against reliever Vic Black, pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit grounded into a fielder’s choice, barely avoiding the double play.
With runners on the corners and one out, B.J. Upton struck out and Simmons flied out deep to end the inning.
The Braves also had two on with one out in the ninth after singles by Justin Upton and Jason Heyward. Chris Johnson popped out foul for the second out and La Stella struck out to end the game.
“Yeah, you’ve got to put yourselves in position to get back in the game,” Simmons said, “but you’ve also got to capitalize, and we didn’t do it. So we’ve got to get better at that.”
They have a 6-6 record against the Mets this season, and the Braves have totaled 44 runs and five homers in those 12 games, including no homers in the past seven games.
Gee faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings, allowing only a walk and a single in that span. After B.J. Upton walked to start the game, he was thrown out trying to steal for the third out of the inning. And after La Stella’s leadoff single in the third inning, Gerald Laird grounded into a double play.
“Nothing against (Gee), but we’ve got to do a better job at the plate,” Simmons said.
Gee needed only five pitches to get three outs in the fourth inning, including a first-pitch groundout by B.J. Upton to start the inning followed by a first-pitch flyout by Simmons.
“He’s throwing strikes,” Simmons said. “B.J. swung first pitch. I came in, should have taken a strike. I saw the ball pretty good and just got a little excited. He got two quick outs.”
The Braves didn’t get their second hit until Santana beat out an infield single with two out in the sixth inning, and he scored the tying run when B.J. Upton followed with a double to left-center.
There was an opportunity for the Braves to take the lead in the seventh after Simmons reached on a fielding error by David Wright to start the inning, and Justin Upton hit a broken-bat single to left-center with one out. But with two on, Heyward struck out looking and Johnson grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the inning.
The Braves wasted their opportunity in the seventh, but the Mets took full advantage of theirs after Wright’s leadoff double in the bottom of the inning.
Hours before the Braves lost, Curacao native Simmons watched his homeland Netherlands lose to Argentina in the World Cup.
“Kick in the groin, twice,” he said of the day.
