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Mets edge Braves to snap skid

Apr 17, 2011 - 9:39 PM Atlanta, GA (Sports Network) - Josh Thole had a pair of run-scoring singles, as the New York Mets snapped their seven-game slide with a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves in the finale of a three-game set at Turner Field.

Jose Reyes had a pair of hits and scored twice, while Ike Davis went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI single for the Mets, who won for the first time since defeating Washington, 8-4, on April 9.

"It was a must-win for us," Thole said. "We had to get ourselves off the hook. We dropped seven in a row, so it was time."

Dillon Gee (1-0), taking the spot in the rotation for Chris Young, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday with biceps tendinitis, gave up one run on five hits with a pair of walks over 5 2/3 effective innings. The right-hander struck out four. Francisco Rodriguez locked the game down in the ninth despite allowing the leadoff hitter to reach. It was his second save of the season.

Jason Heyward had a solo homer and rookie Freddie Freeman added a run-scoring single to account for the offense for Atlanta, which has split its last six games overall.

Tommy Hanson (1-3) threw five innings, allowing three runs on five hits with a pair of walks and fanned nine, but was tagged with the loss.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Chipper Jones started the inning with a walk off Rodriguez, took second on a bunt by Alex Gonzalez and made it to third with two outs after Matt Young grounded out.

Pinch-hitter Brooks Conrad worked a 3-2 count, but struck out on a changeup in the dirt to end the game.

New York opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first. Thole's single brought in Reyes, who led off the game with a double. Then later in the inning, Davis' base hit to right plated another.

"Just took a little bit to get going there," Hanson said about his first- inning struggles. "A couple pitches I made that inning didn't help. I felt really good today."

The Braves got one back in the second after Dan Uggla reached with a leadoff triple and scored two batters later on Freeman's single to right. Atlanta was bidding for more with the bases loaded and nobody out, but Young popped out to shortstop and Hanson bunted through a suicide squeeze with two strikes and Eric Hinske was tagged out in the base paths between third and home.

Then in the fifth, Reyes and Thole again combined to push a run across and put the Mets in front 3-1. Reyes slapped a base hit to center, stole second and came home on Thole's single up the middle.

Gee gave up a leadoff single to Heyward in the sixth, then a two-out walk to Hinske, before Chris Capuano came in and retired pinch-hitter Jones on a force out.

Heyward's homer to left-center leading off the eighth drew the Braves to within a run and Eric O'Flaherty, in for his second inning of relief in the ninth, retired the Mets in order in the top of the ninth.

Game Notes

Atlanta won 11 of 18 over New York last year, prevailing in seven of the final eight matchups as well as six of nine at Turner Field...Both teams stranded seven runners on base.