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Braves rally late to top Mets

Jun 4, 2011 - 5:47 AM Flushing, NY (Sports Network) - Eric Hinske's solo, tie-breaking home run off Francisco Rodriguez with one out in the ninth inning boosted Atlanta to a 6-3 win over the New York Mets.

Hinske came into the game as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning after center fielder Jordan Schafer was forced to leave after bunting a ball off his face.

Freddie Freeman added a two-run double to cap the ninth inning uprising, as the Braves topped the Mets for the 10th time in the last 12 meetings. Chipper Jones hit a solo homer in the victory.

After pinch-hitter Matt Young flied out to start the ninth, Hinske lifted a first pitch toward right-center field, although the ball carried toward right in the wind and went just over the glove of a leaping Carlos Beltran and into the first row of seats beyond the wall.

"I was thinking I'm going to try and ambush him, get something to hit over the plate. It worked out," Hinske said. "Sometimes you guess right and it's part of the cat and mouse game."

Martin Prado doubled, and Brian McCann was intentionally walked with two down before Freeman doubled off Rodriguez (1-2) to the left-center field gap to provide a three-run margin. Freeman was thrown out trying to advance to third on the play.

The Mets, who held a 3-1 lead going to the eighth inning, lost for the third time in four games. Jose Reyes committed a critical error in the eighth, which allowed the tying run to score.

Derek Lowe pitched six effective innings and Craig Kimbrel locked down his 17th save of the year. Jonny Venters (4-0) fanned a pair of batters in the eighth to get the win.

Jonathon Niese fanned seven over 7 2/3 innings for New York.

"We've got to continue to work together to get through these and add on some runs," Mets manager Terry Collins said.

Joe Mather's infield hit plated Freeman in the second, but the Mets went ahead in the fourth thanks to RBI singles from Beltran, Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan.

On an 0-1 pitch, Schafer squared to bunt leading off the fifth but the ball caromed off the bat and nailed him in the right cheek, just below the eye. He left the field with a trainer and had his eye covered as he entered the dugout. Hinske came in to finish the at-bat and fanned, although the strikeout was given to Schafer.

Jones led off the eighth by rocketing a ball to the second deck in left field. Jason Isringhausen yielded a two-out walk to Dan Uggla, who advanced to second on a wild pitch. Alex Gonzalez then grounded ball up the middle. Reyes never got his glove down enough and it squirted under it into the outfield, as the Braves tied the game.

Game Notes

Kimbrel set the National League rookie record for most saves before the All- Star break, topping the previous mark held by the Dodgers' Yhency Brazoban in 2005. The major league first-half rookie mark is 26 saves by Boston's Jonathan Papelbon in 2006...Freeman went 3-for-5 and has gone 13-for-25 over his last six games...Jones has 46 career homers against the Mets, fourth-most all-time against them, trailing Willie Stargell, Mike Schmidt and Willie McCovey.