August 20th - Mets 5, Braves 3

Tuesday night in Flushing, Marlon Byrd hit a 2 run homer in the bottom of the 6^th inning to give the Mets a 4-nothing lead, while Zach Wheeler looked strong in his 6 2/3 innings, the Mets beat the red hot Braves 5-3. This one got close late as it was all Mets until the 7^th inning. Zach Wheeler had the Braves at bay most of the game.  In the first Ike Davis singled to right to score Eric Young Jr. to make it 1-zip. In the 5^th the Mets scored three times. The first run came in on a double steal and an errant throw  by Brian McCann allowing Young to score again, then Marlon Byrd hit his 21^st home run a two run shot.  The 21 dingers is a new career high for the resurgent Byrd. In the top of the 7^th Wheeler was attempting to close out the inning, but left the game with two outs and the bases loaded.  Carlos Torres came on and tried to preserve the shutout but he yielded a three run double by Andrelton Simmons to make it a one run game.  Gonzalez German pitched a scoreless 8^th inning, then Ike Davis hit a long bomb (#8)  into the upper deck in right field to give the Mets insurance.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth for this 5^th save.  Wheeler went 6 2/3 he allowed 6 hits 3 runs (all earned) he walked 3 and struck out 5. He gets the win improving to 6-2. Brandon Beachy takes the loss. In the bottom of the 8^th after Davis’ homer, Travis d’Arnaud got his first major league hit, a line double to left to finally get him in the hit column. With the win the Mets improve to 58-66, their home record improves to 26-32. Wednesday afternoon is the finale of this two game series. Jonathon Niese (5-6  4.25) goes for the Mets, Alex Wood (2-2  2.61) goes for the Braves. https://www.facebook.com/MetsForum