Mets Game Recap: Niese, Plawecki shine in 7-1 win

The Mets, behind another great start by Jon Niese and excellent contact by the Mets’ bats, beat the Braves 7-1 for their 9th win in a row. They continue the best home start in their history (either ballpark) and tie 1986 with the best start in franchise history at 11-3.

Apr 21, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets catcher

(22) gives shortstop

(4) a high five after scoring on an RBI single by New York Mets right fielder

(not pictured) in the fifth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Things were rather quiet in the first few innings and everything moved quickly to the 5th. Kevin Plawecki made his Major League Debut in the 2nd after Eric Campbell got the first Mets hit off Trevor Cahill with 2 out in the inning. The young catcher laced one the opposite way down the 1st base line, but right into Freddie Freeman‘s glove for the last out of the inning.

Jon Niese kept the Braves off the hit board till the 4th inning before giving up a couple, but worked around a set of baserunners in both that inning and the 5th.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Mets started making things happen. Eric Campbell led off with a walk, then Plawecki got his first Major League Hit on a hard grounder passed a diving Andrelton Simmons at short, to his right. Wilmer Flores then singled to left to load the bases. That brought up Niese, who was attempting to extend his 4-game hitting streak that goes back to last season. Showing how much more contact the Mets pitchers are making to open this season compared to the hitless streak that opened 2014, Niese grounded a double play ball at the 2nd baseman Phil Gosselin. The run would have scored regardless, but Phil booted the ball in an attempt to turn the double play fast. All runners were safe; no outs had been recorded. Curtis Granderson, collecting his 1st RBIs of the year, singled down the left field line to make it 3-0 Mets. With runners now on the corners, Juan Lagares shot the ball up the middle for the RBI single, knocking the starter Cahill out of the game.

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In the bottom of the 6th inning, RHP Brandon Cunniff sandwiched a couple popups by Plawecki and Flores with walks by Campbell and Niese. With 2 on, Grandy shot the ball off a leaping Gosselin, bringing Campbell in for the 5th run of the game.

Eric Young, Jr. made his Braves Citi Field debut in the 7th and grounded to Flores at short.

With 2 out in the 7th, the Braves broke up Niese’s shutout with a Cameron Maybin solo shot that ricocheted off the left field railings. After a stupid video review that once more took way too much time using the Dude’s 1991 phone technology, Niese issued a walk at around 105 pitches. Terry took him out, bringing RHP Erik Goeddel into a home game for the 1st time this year. He walked Jonny Gomes on 4 pitches, bringing inn LHP Alex Torres to face Freeman. Generally not a LOOGY, Torres has been thrusted into the position with the injury of Jerry Blevins, and Rule-5 pick Sean Gilmartin inexperienced. He fell behind Freeman 2-0, but came back to strike him out, handing the Braves 2 LOB in the inning.

In the bottom of the 8th inning, Plawecki collected his 2nd Big League Hit with an opposite field grounder through the right side of the infield. Flores then grounded softly to a charging Simmons at short, who booted the ball. Danny Muno pinch hit and moved Kevin over to 3rd on a fly ball to right. Curtis then blooped a double the opposite way in front of left fielder Gomes that bounced into the stands for a ground-rule double, scoring Plaw and moving Flores to 3rd. Lagares then hit a shallow fly ball to left that the center fielder Maybin caught, but Flores still tried for the plate and scored with the throw up the first base line just a bit, making it 7-1 Mets.

Highlights:

• Jon Niese (2-0, 1.50 ERA) went 6 2/3 innings, giving up 1 run on 4 hits and 4 walks, striking out 5

• Kevin Plawecki went 2-4 with 2 runs scored in his Major League Debut.

• Curtis Granderson was 3-5 with 4 RBI on the night.

• Juan Lagares was 1-4 with 2 RBI.

• Lucas Duda was 0-3 with 2 walks.

Thoughts:

Just keep the line moving. The Mets offense, once again combining with stellar pitching, kept putting the ball in play in the 5th inning and a couple other innings to put 7 on the board once more. In Kevin Plawecki’s debut and the game after a couple more rough injuries, the Mets handled the Braves soundly to tie 1986 with the greatest start in Mets history at 11-3.

Just keep the line moving.

Next Up:

The Mets play the second game of their three-game series against Atlanta on Wednesday night at 7:10.

Dillon Gee gets the start for the Mets, opposed by Eric Stults for Atlanta.