The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Torres, Davis lead Mets past Braves
Carlos Torres pitched six impressive innings as a fill-in starter and had an RBI single, Ike Davis turned an angry crowd in his favor with a go-ahead double in a three-run sixth and the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 Tuesday night.
John Buck had a run-scoring single and Juan Lagares a sacrifice fly in a sixth inning that helped the Mets beat Atlanta’s Kris Medlen (6-10) for the first time in eight starts.
Torres (1-1) gave up seven hits, including a home run to Andrelton Simmons on the second pitch of the game, in his second start of the season, pitching out of trouble in the first four innings. The one run actually caused his ERA to increase to 0.94 in 28 2-3 innings this season — 12 appearances.
The 30-year- old righthander made his first start for the Mets on July 13, when Matt Harvey was skipped ahead of the All-Star game. With Jonathon Niese on the disabled list because of a partial tear in his rotator cuff and Shaun Marcum out after having shoulder surgery — he was placed on waivers earlier Tuesday — Torres earned another start with a five innings of one-run ball against Pittsburgh.
Bobby Parnell bounced back from wasting a 1- 0, ninth-inning lead in a 2-1 loss Monday night to pitching a perfect ninth for his 19th save. The Mets have won seven of 11.
The Braves had ample opportunities to pad their lead in the early innings. But they went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position over the first four innings and were 1 for 8 overall. The NL East leaders fell to 2-3 on their seven-game trip.
Medlen, who lost his third straight start, is used to the lack of support. Coming in, Atlanta had averaged 2.3 runs while he is in the game.
While the Braves were squandering chances, the Mets took advantage of their first baserunners — in the third.
They went ahead for good in the sixth. Daniel Murphy and David Wright singled leading off. After Charles Johnson lunged toward third base to snare Marlon Byrd’s grounder and then throw to second off one knee for the force, Davis lined a double off the base of the wall in right field to give New York the lead.