Offense once again rained supreme at Shea Stadium on Sunday as the Braves came back to win the game against the Mets bullpen. While the Mets bullpen yielded six runs in three innings, the Braves bullpen used the bend but don't break approach over the last three and a third innings. Colyer and Yates looked strong in relief of Smoltz who seemed to lose command of his pitches in the sixth inning. Soriano and Wickman each gave up a walk and a hit in their inning of work. This allowed the Mets to bring the tying run to the plate in both the eighth and ninth, but both pitchers were able to get out of trouble without any runs scoring.
The big damage on the day was done by the en fuego Kelly Johnson. He started the game with a homerun off Tom Glavine on the first pitch he saw, giving the Braves a one-run lead for until the Mets tied it in the fifth. But Johnson's bigger blast came in the eighth inning. With two men out, Johnson deposited a 2-0 Aaron Heilman pitch beyond the bullpen in right field to give the Braves a three-run lead.
Johnson was also at the center of another two-out rally in the seventh inning in which he drew a critical walk just before Edgar Renteria hit his game tying three-run homerun. Johnson and Renteria's homeruns were just part of the two-out attach which Atlanta deployed this afternoon. Jeff Francoeur also drove in two runs with two-outs in a sixth inning rally.
It ended up being a bad day for John Smoltz who cruised through the lineup the first one and half times, but ran into all sorts of trouble in the bottom of the sixth. John was just missing on most of his pitches and was visibly unhappy with some of the home plate umpire's calls, which led to Bobby Cox getting ejected from the game in the sixth inning.
All in all it was a very fun game to watch and it was even better that the Braves came away with the win. On the season we are now 4-and-2 against the Mets, having won both series. This also gives the Braves either a win or a tie in every series they've played this year.
Atlanta 9, N.Y. Mets 6 at Shea Stadium
Atlanta Record: (12-6)
N.Y. Mets Record: (11-6)
Winning pitcher - Tyler Yates (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Aaron Heilman (1-2)
SV - Bob Wickman (6)