NEW YORK – Kurt Suzuki was frustrated after the Braves catcher’s passed ball on an R.A. Dickey knuckleball let in the tying run in the fourth inning Thursday, but he didn’t have to wait long to get a little redemption.
Suzuki’s three-run homer in the fifth inning ended a very rough day for Mets starter Matt Harvey and propelled the Braves to a 7-5 win that gave them a sweep of a series shortened to two games after a Tuesday rainout.
"I felt like there was some poetry to that, right?" said Dickey, who pitched five strong innings before leaving with a left-quadriceps spasm. "I mean, I threw a pretty good knuckleball to (Suzuki), and he missed and a guy scored. And the first chance he gets to absolve that, he does it in a big way.
“And it also gave me the latitude to go out there and feel like there wasn’t intense pressure on every pitch like there is in a tie-score situation. It’s always much more fun to pitch with a lead.”
In Dickey’s first start at Citi Field since the Mets traded him to Toronto after Dickey’s 2012 Cy Young Award season, he allowed five hits and three runs (two earned) with two walks and three strikeouts. Dickey doesn’t think his next start will be affected by the spasm, which happened when he ran out a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning to avoid a double play.
The reeling Mets scored two runs in the ninth against Jim Johnson before losing for the 10th time in 11 games and being swept by the Braves for the third time in four series between the teams at Citi Field going back to June.
Suzuki’s first home run was also the first three-run homer for the Braves all season. Seventeen of the Braves’ 21 homers have come with bases empty, and the other three were hit with one runner on base.
“Obviously anything you can do to help the team win makes you feel a lot better,” Suzuki said of his decisive hit after being charged with a passed ball. “It was good timing, I guess you could say. And it was a good overall win by the team.”
The Braves (8-12) moved ahead of the Mets (8-13), who’ve dropped six in a row to sink to last place in the National League East. The Braves have almost as many wins (three) in five games at Citi Field as the Mets, who are 4-10 at home.
Dickey, 42, had been scheduled to face Noah Syndergaard, who was a 20-year-old pitching prospect when traded to the Mets from Toronto as part of that deal for Dickey. But Syndergaard, now one of the top power pitchers in the National League, was scratched from his start Thursday morning because of what was described as arm fatigue and biceps discomfort.
“I got to be honest with you, it’s pretty anticlimactic, considering,” Dickey said. “There was no Syndergaard, none of the storylines you guys were hoping for. It was pretty innocuous. I’m glad that we won, though, and it’s nice to get a win. I love pitching here. It’s a great place to pitch.”
Harvey's start was moved up a day and did not go well as the Braves peppered him for five hits, six runs and a career-high-tying five walks in just 4 1/3 innings. The Braves did it without one of their hottest hitters, injured second baseman Brandon Phillips.
“He’s obviously got great stuff, so when his command’s a little shaky you’ve got to try to get him in the zone,” Suzuki said. “Those are the times you try to get to great pitchers. This guy’s got great stuff, when you keep him in the zone on a day he’s struggling with his command. … You go out of the zone, you kind of help him out a little bit. We just tried to be patient, get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it.”
Harvey (2-1) issued three walks in the second inning, and the Braves took a 2-0 lead when the first two of those walked batters — Nick Markakis and Suzuki — scored on a one-out single by Jace Peterson and Dickey’s ground out. Dickey has four RBIs in 10 at-bats in his first season back in the NL after four years in the American League.
The Mets had a prime scoring opportunity in the second inning after a leadoff double from Jay Bruce. But when Neil Walker followed with a single to shallow center, Ender Inciarte made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down Bruce trying to score. Dickey retired the next two batters on a ground-out and strikeout to preserve the 2-0 lead.
Dickey had a chance to add to his RBI total in the fourth after the Braves loaded the bases with none out, but Dansby Swanson and Dickey each grounded into a force at home and Inciarte lined out to end the inning.
It seemed like that blown opportunity might haunt the Braves after the Mets scored twice in the bottom of the inning to tie on an RBI double from Neil Walker and the passed ball charged to Suzuki. Yoenis Cespedes led off the inning with a double and pulled a hamstring on the play, leaving the game and adding the mounting injury woes for a reeling Mets.
One inning later, Suzuki’s passed ball was reduced to a footnote. Adonis Garcia led off the fifth with a single and scored the go-ahead run on Freddie Freeman’s double. One out and an intentional walk to Markakis later, Suzuki drove Harvey’s final pitch over the left-field fence for the veteran catcher’s first home run this season and a 6-2 lead.
