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Jurrjens, Johnson power Braves past Mets

Apr 26, 2008 - 4:40 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) - With the exception of a long third inning, Jair Jurrjens was nearly perfect in his first visit to Shea Stadium.

Jurrjens overcame three straight bases-loaded walks and pitched six innings as the Atlanta Braves opened a three-game series against the New York Mets with a 6-3 victory on Friday night.

Kelly Johnson drove in four runs for the second time this season against the Mets and had a go-ahead home run in the sixth off New York starter Mike Pelfrey. Johnson's home run came three innings after Jurrjens allowed all three of his runs and both of his hits.

He also issued four straight two-out walks to Luis Castillo, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church, which allowed the Mets to take a 3-1 lead. His second walk of the night came on a close 3-2 pitch to Wright that prompted Braves manager Bobby Cox to argue with - and subsequently by ejected by - plate umpire Tim McClelland.

Following the walk to Wright, he walked Beltran on five pitches and put Church on after seven pitches.

"It was mistakes that I made," Jurrjens said. "I just tried to keep my team in the game and I was lucky to get out of the inning with only (three) runs."

"He was perfect except for the one inning," Cox said. "You can't pitch much better than that."

After being ejected for the first time this season and 136th time in his managerial career, Cox watched from his office as the 22-year-old righthander settled down. He left the bases loaded by striking out Angel Pagan and retired the final 10 hitters he faced.

"He's so mature, it's unreal," Cox said. "He understands everything. He understands baseball, how it should be played - the whole works. He's one heck of a pickup."

Jurrjens' ability to recover helped Atlanta improve to 3-0 against the Mets this season with Tim Hudson and John Smoltz starting the final two games of the series. It also gave the Braves their seventh win in nine games.

After the Mets went ahead, the Braves chipped away with a run apiece in the fourth and fifth as they tied it on Jeff Francouer's RBI double. An inning later, Jurrjens had his first career hit and scored when Johnson sent Pelfrey's first pitch over the right-field fence for a 5-3 lead.

Once Johnson provided Atlanta with a lead, the bullpen finished up nicely as four relievers combined to allow just a pair of runners the rest of the way.

Will Ohman walked two in the seventh and Blaine Boyer tossed a perfect eighth. Royce Ring opened the ninth by striking out pinch hitter Carlos Delgado and Manny Acosta finished up.

"For him to be able to come back and pitch like that, I think we had all the confidence in the world," Francoeur said. "He kept us in it so we could score runs and I think tonight was one of the best games this season - just from the standpoint that we played hard and stayed in it. We didn't let ourselves get too out of control."

For the Mets, the failure to do anything in the other eight innings sent them to their fifth loss in six games following a five-game winning streak.

"We had him on the ropes that inning," Wright said. "We just couldn't provide the knockout blow. We had our chances. We just couldn't take advantage."

Pelfrey struggled for the second straight outing, allowing a season-high five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. He also issued a season-high four walks.

"I walked way too many guys," Pelfrey said. "I did a very poor job of executing pitches."