By Gem Tablak 

April 5th, 2017

Braves vs Mets 7:10 
With nothing much going on to start the game, Neil Walker would take away a hit from “BP” Brandon Phillips in the top of the 2nd as he goes towards the hole to make an amazing diving stop. 
Colon then would put down the Mets throwing just 6 pitches in the bottom of the 2nd after needing 19 in the first. 
After getting Suzuki to ground into a soft ground out allowing Garcia to advance to 2nd, Colon would walk up to the plate with a standing ovation from the crowd at citi field. He would eventually strike out with a fastball on the outside black by deGrom. deGrom would then pick up his 5th strike out on a back door slider to Ender Inciarte to end the top of the third. 
After giving up a hard hit double to Matt Kemp, deGrom would stick to a theme that has been working so far, deGrom would go to his back door slider to strike out Nick Markakis to end the third. 
Cespedes picks up the Mets first hit with a hard hit into left field but that would end up being the Mets only hit of the inning as both Granderson & Walker would leave Yoenis stranded on first. 
Bruce would then lead off the 5th with a line drive home run that would hit the top of fence & continue to go over the wall for the Mets first run of the game. 
deGrom would be pulled for Hansel Robles after 6 scoreless innings, throwing 95 pitches & only giving up 2 hits & walking 1 while striking out 6 Braves. 
After striking out in his first two at bats, Nick Markakis would triple off of Robles with one out in the 7th. With the infield now in, Brandon Phillips would receive a four pitch walk to set up a double play. 
Adonis Garcia then smoked a line drive over Jay Bruce’s head to tie the game for the Braves. If it wasn’t for a stutter in Brandon Phillips base running, the Braves might have taken the lead. However this would set things up for Suzuki with runners on 2nd & 3rd with 1 out. 
Robles would eventually hit Suzuki to load the bases which forced Terry Collins hand & took Robles out of the game. Collins would replace Robles with Jerry Blevins. 
After Blevins would reach a full count, he would strike out Bonafacio with a four seem fastball down the heart of the plate. Inciarte would then ground out to Lucas Duda, ending the inning & allowing Blevins to clean up Hansel Robles’ mess. 
Jose Reyes would commit an error as he was coming in on a Swansby grounder, this would put a runner on base for the Braves superstar first baseman against Fernando Salas. Amazingly enough, Salas would get Freddie Freeman to roll over on a outside fastball causing him to ground into a 4-6-3 double play. 
Matt Kemp would follow with his second double of the game with a close play at second base after Cespedes threw a strike in from left field. They would then intentionally walk Markakis to face Phillips with runners now on first & second. 
However, after getting into some trouble that 8th inning, Salas would strike out Brandon Phillips to end the inning & also put his 34 game hit streak vs the Mets in Flushing. 
d’Arnaud would get a hanging breaking ball in which he put in left field for a single putting him on for pinch hitter Michael Conforto with one out. Conforto would end up lining a pitch deep to left center where Inciarte would end up making the play. Reyes then hit a dribbler right in front of the plate in which Kurt Suzuki was able to throw him out at first & stranding Travis after his 1 out single in the 8th.
Reed, who is acting as the Mets temporary closer, was called upon to come in with the game tied at 1 in the top of the 9th. He would first get Adonis Garcia, the Braves only player with an RBI this seri to ground out to Reyes at third. Suzuki would then rip a short hop line drive in which Cabrera had to slide towards his left, going up the middle putting away Suzuki. Reed would finish out the inning strong as he struck out Tyler Flowers & the Mets would get ready with Cespedes due up 2nd in the bottom of the ninth. 
Braves pitcher Jose Ramirez would get himself into an early jam as he lead off the inning issuing a walk to Asdrubal Cabrera, putting him on for Cespedes. Unfortunately, Cespedes would hit a soft line drive under the pitchers glove, which set up a perfect 4-4-3 double play. 
Josh Edgin would come on in the 10th inning for the Mets & pick up a 1-2-3 inning, the last out would be a fastball blown by Freddie Freeman. 
After Neil Walker hit a sharp line drive right to Danson Swansby for the first out of the tenth, Jay Bruce would hit a double in the gap, putting him in scoring position. The Braves would then intentionally walk Lucas Duda to set up a double play with TdA up to bat. However, it wasn’t needed for the Braves as Travis would take an 0-2 fastball on the outside black leaving it up to pinch hitter Ty Kelly. Kelly, who won the last job on the bench would end up striking out, stranding the runners on base.
With one out & one on & Rafael Montero pitching, Brandon Phillips would bloop a hit in front of Granderson in center field putting Matt Kemp on 3rd. This would also extend Phillips’ hitting streak to 35 game in Flushing, Queens. 
Montero would squirm his way out of danger in the 11th as he was able to get Adonis Garcia to ground into an inning ending double play to keep the game tied at 1 going into the bottom of the 11th inning. 
With nothing happening for the Mets in the bottom half, Rafael Montero would surrender a hit to Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki would be replaced on the base paths by TdA’s brother, Chase d’Arnaud. 
Montero would next strike out pinch hitter, Jace Peterson for the first out of the inning. Montero then walked Inciarte to bring up Braves top prospect, Danson Swansby with runners on first & second with one out. After getting Swansby to ground out to Duda, Montero would intentionally walk Freeman to face Matt Kemp. 
Kemp would eventually drive in 2 runs with his third double of the game, giving the Braves the two run lead simultaneously chasing Montero out, as well. 
Josh Smoker would come into replace Montero & take on the lefty out fielder Markakis & would do exactly that by striking him out to end the inning, however the Mets would go into the bottom of the 12th with the two run deficit. 
After picking up a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th, Braves reliever Jim Johnson would get Granderson to lead off the inning with a ground out to second. Walker would then smoke a line drive towards left field but Jace Peterson would take away a hit from Walker with a leaping snag for the second out of the inning. 
Bruce would give the Mets some life as he lined a single into right field, making Duda the tying run up to bat. Jim Johnson would throw 2 straight curveballs getting ahead of Duda 0-2, after burying a third curveball in the dirt to make it 1-2, Johnson would get Duda to strike out with a fastball up in the zone to put an end to the game. The Mets would walk away from this game with a 1-1 record to start the season.

Mets Players of the Game:

Jacob deGrom & Jay Bruce 

Duds of the Game: 

Hansel Robles & Rafael Montero 

Notes: The Mets have signed Desmond Jennings to a Minor League contract a few hours prior to the start of the game.
Phillips’ 35 game hit streak against the Mets in Flushing, Queens is the longest versus any team since 1927.