Santana, Mets blank Braves to avoid sweep
NEW YORK – They had a frustrating afternoon against Johan Santana and the Mets, but the Braves said it did nothing to diminish their solid road trip and prosperous first half.
They scraped together five hits in a 3-0 loss at Citi Field on Sunday in final game before the All-Star break, but the left New York with the best record in the National League (52-36) and a four-game lead over the second-place Mets in the East.
The Braves won both series on a six-game trip against third-place Philadelphia and New York.
"We've got to realize we went 4-2 on a very big road trip, and the two losses were to [Roy] Halladay and Johan," said left fielder Matt Diaz, who had two of' five hits against Santana. "We really like the way we match up with both those teams on any given night. And it's not like we got our doors blown off in either of those two losses."
The Braves got five hits in a 3-1 loss in Halladay's complete game at Philadelphia to start the trip, and five hits against Santana and two relievers Sunday.
Lowe (9-8) was the losing pitcher in both, allowing two runs in seven innings against Halladay and two runs in 5-1/3 inings Sunday. He had three walks and five strikeouts and has lost three consecutive starts.
"I lost both games on the trip, that's something to be proud of," Lowe deadpanned, before turning serious. "We knew it was going to be a tough six days, and you never want to end up poorly and kind of give away what we worked so hard on the first three months."
They didn't do that this past week, Lowe said.
"To go 4-2, I think everyone's kind of happy with the way things went," he said. "Clearly I'm disappointed with the way things went [in his starts], but Santana hadn't given up a run in 16 [innings], and Halladay is always tough."
Santana and Halladay have three American League Cy Young Awards between them, and recently Santana has pitched again like the elite performer he was for most of the past decade.
The left-hander has not allowed a run in 17 innings and is 2-0 with a 0.39 ERA in his past three starts.
"We got a few hits early and only had two chances all day to do a little bit," Braves manager Bobby Cox. "We couldn't get to him. We just couldn't. D-Lowe pitched a tough game himself, holding them to two runs. They stranded a few, but he pitched a gutty game.
"We went into the eighth inning two down and still had a chance to win. But we just couldn't get the hitting going."
The Braves had a leadoff double from Melky Cabrera in the third inning, but he was promptly thrown out trying to advance to third on Lowe's fielder's choice.
They had two runners on with one out in the fourth after a Brian McCann walk and Diaz bloop single. Yunel Escobar popped out and Cabrera walked before Lowe struck out with bases loaded.
After that, the Braves didn't advance another runner past first base.
Santana has a 2.01 ERA in 10 starts against the Braves, though just a 2-5 record. His teams have scored two runs or fewer while he's been in all 10 games against Atlanta.
"It was a hard series for me," said NL batting leader Martin Prado, who had a rare 0-for-12 series for the Braves. "I was out of my game, just for some reason. I only hit the ball a couple of times….
"[Santana] was pretty good, though. I think [pitching] in the daytime helped him a lot, and he got a couple of support runs and got the win. But he was pretty good, hitting his spots."
Prado is his own harshest critic, and fretted until someone reminded the All-Star second baseman that the Braves won both series on the trip.
"I know," he said. "That makes us feel pretty good. To take two out of three in Philly and take two out of three here, I think that's a real good road trip before the All-Star break. We're going to come back after the All-Star break and just try to do the same thing we've been doing."
