Braves' Late Rally Falls Short In 6-5 Loss to New York.

For the first time in nine games, the Washington Nationals lost a baseball game and finally gave Atlanta a chance to close the gap in the National League East.

Instead, the Mets got to Ben Sheets early and held off a furious Braves rally late to avoid a sweep with a 6-5 win.

Atlanta had a great run scoring opportunity in the top of the first with runners on first and third and one out. Niese managed to coax a double-play ball from Chipper Jones to escape the jam.

Mike Baxter got things going for the Mets in the bottom of the frame with a one out single. David Wright followed with a double to right that scored Baxter to make it 1-0. Wright advanced to third on an errant throw to second from Jason Heyward. Wright came in to score on a single from Ike Davis that upped the advantage to 2-0.

The Braves got on the board in the top of the second thanks to another mammoth blast from Freddie Freeman. Freeman launched his 15th home run of the year deep into the right center field stands.

New York responded in the bottom of the frame, plating a run on a rbi-single from Ruben Tejada that scored Rob Johnson.

Things stayed at 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when Wright doubled left and scored with on a single from Davis one batter later.

Jordany Valdespin launched his eighth home run of the year to right field, making it a 5-1 game.

Sheets left after the sixth, finishing with a line of 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.

Mets starter Jon Niese was nails, striking out six while allowing only one run in eight innings of work. Very impressive performance for the left-hander.

Valdespin continued his productive night in the eighth, singling to start the inning against Cristhian Martinez. After stealing second, he came in to score on an Andres Torres single.

With the score at 6-1, it appeared the Mets would cruise to an easy victory. That certainly wasn't the case. Atlanta loaded the bases with two outs, forcing New York to bring in Frank Francisco. Juan Francisco worked a walk on a fantastic ten-pitch at bat, bringing in Chipper.

Michael Bourn walked as well, scoring Freeman to cut the deficit to 6-3. Martin Prado followed with a double to right field, scoring two runs and making it a 6-5 game.

Jon Rauch entered to replace Francisco and face Jason Heyward. Heyward struck out on a ball in the dirt, but hustled down the line and almost beat out the throw that ended the game.