Bartolo Colon, Mets Shut Out Braves

Bartolo Colon may be a month short of his 41st birthday and a couple of hundred pounds short of a six-pack, but the guy can pitch. He threw seven scoreless innings Monday night in Atlanta as the Mets shut out the Braves 4-0.

The Mets got on the board in the third. Ruben Tejada led off with a walk. Bartolo Colon failed in his attempt to sacrifice, bunting a foul pop. Eric Young walked to put runners on first and second. Tejada advanced to third on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch by Aaron Harang.

Gus Schlosser came in for Harang in the seventh. Travis d’Arnaud led off with a double. He had earlier singled for his first hit of the season. He came around to score on a Tejada single to make it 2-0. Colon then successfully got a bunt down to move Tejada to second. Luis Avilan came in and gave up a single to Young that scored Tejada to extend the lead to 3-0. Young was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

The Mets added an insurance run in the eighth. Lucas Duda singled with one out. Juan Lagares then hit a slow grounder back to the pitcher. He was called out on a close play at first, but Terry Collins challenged the call. After a video review the play was correctly overturned. After d’Arnaud popped out, Tejada singled to plate Duda to make it a 4-0 game.

Bartolo Colon went seven innings without allowing a run, or a walk for that matter. He allowed six hits and struck out five Braves. His 101st and final pitch was a 93 mph fastball that Jason Heyward grounded to second as Colon escaped runners on first and second.

Kyle Farnsworth pitched a perfect eighth, but Jose Valverde found some trouble in the ninth. Justin Upton and Dan Uggla opened the inning with singles to put runners on first and second. Evan Gattis hit a grounder to short and Tejada was able to cut down Upton at third for the first out. Andrelton Simmons hit a comebacker that was a potential game-ending double play. But Valverde’s throw to second was wide, pulling Daniel Murphy off the bag. So instead, the bases were loaded with one out. Gerald Laird popped out to Murphy for the second out. Heyward hit a long fly ball to the warning track that Juan Lagares caught to end the game.

Mets win 4-0 as Bartolo Colon notches his first win as a Met.