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Jordan slam leads Braves past winless Mets
ATLANTA (Ticker) --
Brian Jordan
,
Chipper Jones
and the
Atlanta Braves
continue to find new ways to punish the
New York Mets
.
Jordan hit his seventh career grand slam and Jones added a solo shot as the Braves kept the Mets the only winless team in the sport with an easy 6-3 triumph.
Jordan and Jones were key contributors on an Atlanta team that served as a thorn in the side of New York for the latter half of the last decade. And while Jones has been a staple of the Braves' unprecedented run of regular-season success, Jordan has returned to the team after a three-year absence.
In this one, Jordan snapped a scoreless contest in the second inning with a home run to center field against New York starter
Aaron Heilman
(0-1). After New York drew within 4-2 in the top of the fifth, Jones tacked on an insurance run with his second homer of the season, a shot to right against Heilman in the bottom of the frame.
"The emotions run high, especially when you're playing the Mets," Jordan said. "Eastern rivalries, you want to get off to a good start. That pumped everybody up and the pitching's been great. It rubs off."
"It was good to see BJ get a bunch of people off their butts and cheer," Jones said. "A grand slam is the ultimate for a baseball player, to be able to knock in four runs and round the bases and have everyone get excited. It was definitely the swing of the game."
The Mets have dropped their opening five games of the season and fell to 19-45 all-time at Turner Field.
"We're scuffling a little bit," Randolph said. "I'm still real pumped up. I'm real confident about my boys."
"We aren't playing bad but we're making a lot of mistakes," Mets left fielder
Cliff Floyd
said. "We're not playing bad."
Atlanta starter
Horacio Ramirez
allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. The talented 25-year-old lefthander, who missed more than three months last season with shoulder tendinitis, was lifted after 93 pitches and just prior to being eligible for the win.
"He just had a ton of pitches again," Cox said. "The strike zone shrunk the past three years and it's hard to get small pitch counts anymore. It's just really difficult."
"I wasn't happy with my control and they way I was falling behind guys," Ramirez said. "Physically I was fine. I just couldn't find the strike zone early in the count. I've been geeked up before but I've been able to pitch though it, and pitch well."
Kevin Gryboski
got the final out of the fifth and
Adam Bernero
(2-0) worked two scoreless innings before
Jorge Sosa
and
Chris Reitsma
logged an inning apiece.
The Braves have won four straight since dropping their season opener and manager
Bobby Cox
closed within two victories of
Leo Durocher
for eighth on the all-time list. Durocher had 2,008 career victories.
The Mets left two aboard in the first and seemed to have all the momentum when Jones was thrown out at the plate to end the bottom of the inning. New York left two more on in the second but was not as fortunate in the bottom of the inning.
Johnny Estrada
singled,
Adam LaRoche
doubled and
Raul Mondesi
loaded the bases with an infield single. Heilman then grooved a 1-0 pitch that Jordan hit over the wall in center for a 4-0 lead.
The Mets got a pair of runs in the fifth on a homer by
Jose Reyes
and an RBI single by Floyd. With two aboard and two outs, Cox opted to pull Ramirez and Gryboski came through by getting
David Wright
to pop out.
"I thought for the time he was out there he pitched very good," Cox said of Ramirez. "He had terrific movement."
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