Mets 4, Braves 2: The Dude Abides Twice

With a trio of home runs, a good-not-great start by R.A. Dickey, and another fine afternoon from the bullpen, the Mets defeated the Braves 4 to 2.

David Wright got things started in the bottom of the first inning with his first home run of the season, a solo shot well into the bullpen. Lucas Duda hit his first home run of the season, too, in the fourth inning, and it was also a solo shot to right-center field.

R.A. Dickey looked excellent through the first few innings of the game, but one minor problem was his uncharacteristic lack of control. With two outs in the fifth inning, Dickey issued a two-out walk to Michael Bourn, and Martin Prado made him pay for it with a two-run line-drive home run to the left field corner.

The Mets didn't take long to answer, though, as they plated a run in the bottom of the frame. Jair Jurrjens was pulled inf favor of Livan Hernandez after issuing a one-out walk to Ike Davis and a single to Jason Bay. Hernandez got The Dude to pop out, but Josh Thole roped a single to right field to bring home Davis and give the Mets the lead.

The Dude gave the Mets an insurance run in the seventh inning with another solo home run, a laser beam of a line drive into the seats to the right of the Mo's Zone.

Bobby Parnell and Jon Rauch each threw a perfect inning with a strikeout. Frank Francisco allowed a pair of singles in the ninth inning, but he struck out two, one of which was a game-ending swinging whiff of Matt Diaz.