The Mets beat the Braves on Tuesday night, but it didn't look like they would in the top of the first inning. Andrelton Simmons—who had a .351 slugging percentage entering the game—hit a home run against Carlos Torres to begin the game.
Torres then gave up a single to Jason Heyward, recorded two outs, and walked Brian McCann. He then served up a single to Evan Gattis, but center fielder Juan Lagares threw out Heyward at home plate to end the inning, a play that very well might have allowed the Mets the opportunity to win.
From there, however, Torres settled in nicely. He allowed at least a baserunner in every inning but his one-two-three fifth, but he didn't allow another run to score. Torres struck out six, walked two, hit a batter, and gave up seven hits. With the outing, Torres has thrown 28.2 innings with a 0.94 ERA and 2.77 FIP with the Mets this year. He has a long way to go before proving himself, but maybe taking this pitcher out of Coors Field was a significant thing.
It was Torres's bat that got the Mets on the board to tie the game, too, in the bottom of the third inning. Juan Lagares doubled to begin that inning and moved to third on a flyball out off the bat of Omar Quintanilla. Torres singled to knot things up.
Neither team scored in the fourth or the fifth, but the Mets took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Daniel Murphy and David Wright singled to start the inning. Marlon Byrd grounded into a force out at second base, but Murphy moved to third on the play. Ike Davis doubled—yes, doubled—to score Murphy, and John Buck singled to score Byrd and move Davis all the way to third. With that, Kris Medlen got the hook, but Juan Lagares then tacked on the Mets' fourth run of the evening on a sacrifice fly.
The three-run lead was more than enough for the Mets' suddenly-not-so-bad bullpen. David Aardsma and Scott Rice combined for a scoreless inning despite a one-out walk by Aardsma. LaTroy Hawkins retired the side in order in the eighth, and Bobby Parnell did the same in the ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts.
The series continues tomorrow at 7:10 pm with Jeremy Hefner starting for the Mets and Tim Hudson starting for the Braves.
SB Nation Coverage
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* Talking Chop Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Carlos Torres, +21.2% WPA (pitching)
Big losers: Omar Quintanilla -5.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Ike Davis’s sixth-inning double, +15.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Andrelton Simmons’s leadoff home run, -10.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +31.6% WPA
Total batter WPA: +18.4% WPA
GWRBI!: Ike Davis