Dillon Gee Great in Return, Mets Win

Dillon Gee pitched his first game Wednesday night in two months, but you would not have known it from his performance. There was no rust in sight as pitched into the eighth inning. Combine that with some rare timely hitting and solid bullpen work and the Mets beat the Braves for the third straight game.

The Mets jumped out to an early lead. Daniel Murphy doubled in the first inning and Lucas Duda drove him home with a single.

Gee held off the Braves until the sixth. With opposing pitcher Ervin Santana on first with two outs, B.J. Upton hit a shot to center that one-hopped the wall. Kirk Nieuwenhuis got it to Murphy, who then fired home. It looked like there was a good chance to nail Santana but Duda cut the ball off and Santana scored before Upton was tagged out to tie the game at one. It was the second time recently that Duda cut off a ball that he should have let go. So Duda giveth the lead and taketh the lead away!

David Wright stole a double to lead off the seventh. He hit what looked like a routine single to center, but he deked B.J. Upton in center and Wright took off and was safe at second. He moved to third on a Duda line out. Bobby Abreu walked. Juan Lagares pinch ran for him. Nieuwenhuis hit a sinking liner to right that Jason Heyward caught but it was enough to drive in Wright with the tie-breaking run. Travis d’Arnaud followed with a two-run home run to left and suddenly the Mets had a 4-1 lead.

Dillon Gee was back out there for the eighth, but he ran into his first trouble of the night. Tommy La Stella led off with a single up the middle. Gerald Laird then laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit. That was all for Gee. Vic Black came on and got Ryan Doumit to hit a grounder to Duda. He got the force at second but Doumit was safe on a close play at first. With runners on first and third, B.J. Upton struck out for the second out. Andrelton Simmons hit a fly ball to the warning track in left to end the inning. Great job by Vic Black.

Dillon Gee went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits. He struck out four and walked one. Not a bad way to return from the disabled list.

Closer Jenrry Mejia took the mound for the ninth. He got the first out on a strike out but Justin Upton and Heyward both singled up the middle to put runners on first and second. Chris Johnson popped up to Duda in foul territory for the second out (despite Duda nearly colliding with Murphy). A wild pitch on the first pitch to La Stella moved the runners to second and third. Mejia got him on a strikeout to end the game.

Mets win 4-1. They go for the four-game sweep of the Braves tomorrow night.