Mets 7, Braves 5: Jonny and Craig Who?

The final game of the Mets' last series against the Braves was a rather long affair, thanks to the poor pitching of Brandon Beachy and Dillon Gee.

Beachy struck out eight, but he walked five and allowed four runs in only four-and-one-third innings of work. It was an uncharacteristic outing for the Braves' rookie, especially since the Mets trotted out a lineup featuring Ruben Tejada in the leadoff spot and Jason Pridie hitting second. 

Gee struck out four in his four-inning outing, but like Beachy, he walked five and allowed four runs. It wasn't the first time this season that Gee struggled to find the plate, and his already-high walk rate got even higher with the start.

It was the Braves who scored first in the bottom of the third inning on a double by - surprise, surprise - Chipper Jones, but the Mets quickly erased that slim lead in the top of the fourth inning. With runners on second and third, two outs, and Dillon Gee on deck, the Braves opted to intentionally walk Justin Turner to load the bases. Beachy then unintentionally walked Gee to tie the game, and he surrendered a bases-clearing double to Ruben Tejada that sailed over the head of Matt Diaz in left field.

The combination of Gee's pitching and some awfully shoddy defense let the Braves tie the game right back up in the bottom of the fourth. An Alex Gonzalez solo bomb began the inning and cut the Mets' lead to two runs. Jason Heyward followed up with a routine ground ball to second base that turned into an infield single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by the pitcher, and scored on a Michael Bourn single. Two batters later, Dan Uggla grounded out to tie the game at four.

Neither team's bullpen gave up a run until the bottom of the seventh, which began with Miguel Batista still on the mound after throwing a scoreless sixth. After serving up a one-out double to Gonzalez, Batista was taken out in favor of Tim Byrdak with a trio of lefties due up for the Braves. Byrdak struck out two of the three, but he gave up a single to Freddie Freeman in between the strikeouts that put the Braves ahead by one.

The Braves turned their slim lead over to Jonny Venters, who's having an outstanding year against everyone but the Mets. Venters was wild, loading the bases on two walks and a single before walking in the tying run with Ronny Paulino at the plate. Tejada then blooped a single into right field to put the Mets up six-to-five, and the lead may have been more had Chip Hale not sent Justin Turner home on the play. He was a dead duck at the plate, ending the inning. 

It was Venters' eighty-first appearance of the year, and he's only been charged with at least one run ten times. Four of those appearances came against the Mets.

Bobby Parnell put two runners on base with the walk in the bottom of the eighth, and with two outs, they stood on second and third. Terry Collins brought in Manny Acosta, who got out of the inning on a long fly ball off the bat of Brooks Conrad.

The Braves used Craig Kimbrel in the ninth in an attempt to keep the Mets' lead at one, but Lucas Duda took him deep over the center field fence with two outs to extend the lead to two. It was only the second home run Kimbrel allowed all season, and it was the first game of the year in which Venters and Kimbrel both allowed a run to score.

The Acostalypse allowed a walk and a single in the bottom of the inning, but he escaped unscathed, preserving the Mets' victory.

The Mets have the day off tomorrow and resume play for their final road series of the year on Tuesday in St. Louis.

SB Nation Coverage

* Traditional Recap
* Boxscore
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread

Win Probability Added

Big winners: Ruben Tejada, +44.3% WPA, Manny Acosta, +25.6% WPA, Ronny Paulino, +23.3% WPA
Big losers: Dillon Gee, -27.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ruben Tejada three-run double in the fourth, +28.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Freddie Freeman go-ahead single in the seventh, -23.3% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -8.1% WPA
Total batter WPA: +58.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Ruben Tejada

Game Thread Roll Call

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