Braves Beat Up Santana, Mets For 9-3 Victory

The Braves handed Johan Santana the shortest start of his career.

Santana only retired one hitter in the second inning before getting pulled and the Braves finally earned their first win over the Mets in 2012, winning 9-3.

The matchup of Santana versus Randall Delgado appeared to favor the Mets, but the Braves jumped on the ace pitcher early with a sacrifice fly by Chipper Jones in the first. However, the real fun started in the second inning. Dan Uggla drew a leadoff walk and Matt Diaz continued his domination of Santana by stinging a single back up the middle. Freddie Freeman extended the lead by slapping a double to left on the 11th pitch of the at-bat, scoring Uggla. Tyler Pastornicky added a double of his own to score two more.

Santana's problems continued thanks to some sloppy defense. When Delgado attempted a sacrifice bunt, Ike Davis threw wide to third, allowing Pastornicky to score the fourth run of the inning. Jason Heyward singled home Delgado and that chased Santana from the game. The Mets starter allowed six runs on four hits in only 1.1 innings.

Delgado looked impressive through the first three innings, but the Mets broke up the shutout in the fourth. Following a popup that fell in for a double by Jason Bay, Josh Thole singled him in. Thole later scored on a pinch-hit single by Mike Baxter. However, the Braves would earn those two runs back in the fifth on Diaz's sacrifice fly and Freeman's RBI single.

Delgado was pulled with two on and one out in the sixth. He allowed three runs on seven hits, striking out five while issuing three walks.

Juan Francisco added a pinch-hit home run in the eighth. Kris Medlen and Eric O'Flaherty held off the Mets the final 3.2 innings for the victory.