Green lifts Mets over Braves

Sep 13, 2007, 2:56 GMT

Flushing, NY - Shawn Green singled home the eventual game- winner in the eighth inning, and the first-place New York Mets held off the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in the finale of a three-game series at Shea Stadium.

'I was not sure what their approach was going to be with a base open,' Green said. 'He came at me 2-1, and the ball hung a little bit.'

Marlon Anderson homered and Jose Reyes went 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored a run for the NL East-leading Mets, who have won five of six, and moved 9 1/2 games ahead of the Braves. New York also widened its lead to seven games over second-place Philadelphia, which fell to Colorado 12-0 Wednesday,

John Maine allowed one run on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts over six innings for the Mets. Guillermo Mota (2-1) got the final out in the eighth for the win, and Billy Wagner tossed a perfect ninth for his 34th save in 38 opportunities this season.

John Smoltz, who flirted with a no-hitter in his last start, allowed two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts and a pair of walks over six innings for Atlanta.

'We're not as good as they [Mets] are,' Smoltz said. 'They won every game they had to win and close games. That's why they are where they are. We have to start talking about next year.'

Mark Teixeira ended 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Braves, who in the second game of the series on Tuesday rolled to a 13-5 victory but still have dropped three of four.

The Mets broke a 3-3 tie for the game-winner in the eighth off Manny Acosta (0-1), who gave up a single to Carlos Beltran before the center fielder stole second on catcher Clint Sammons, who was in the game for defensive purposes making his major league debut.

Beltran reached third on Moises Alou's groundout, and then scored on Green's single. The rally was immediately cut short when Paul Lo Duca grounded into a double play.

The Braves tied the score at three with a pair of runs in the eighth off reliever Aaron Heilman. Edgar Renteria walked and Teixeira singled him over to third. Reliever Pedro Feliciano walked the only batter he faced, Brian McCann, to load the bases for Jeff Francoeur, who singled home two runs off Mota with help from a fielding error by Alou. Mota struck out Andruw Jones swinging to avoid further damage.

New York scored a run in the third when Reyes grounded a lead-off single, stole second, raced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Beltran's sacrifice fly.

Atlanta responded in the fourth when Maine walked three straight batters after giving up a single to Teixeira, who scored on the third walk before Matt Diaz's forceout left the bases loaded.

The Mets broke the 1-1 tie in the fifth on Anderson's lead-off shot to right field on a 1-2 pitch.

With Smoltz replaced by Ron Mahay, pinch-hitter Lastings Milledge lined a lead-off triple and scored on Reyes' single before the reliever calmed down and induced an Anderson double play and a David Wright flyout.

Game Notes

Reyes extended his streak of consecutive games without an error to 41, setting a career-long errorless games streak at shortstop...Alou has a 17-game hitting streak, matching Wright for the longest streak this season by a Met...These clubs hold a 9-9 split this year, and Atlanta has dropped the last five of six against the Mets.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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