Kelly Johnson's Homer In 11th Gives Mets 1-0 Win Over Braves
ATLANTA (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson lined a leadoff home run in the 11th inning and the New York Mets outlasted the Atlanta Braves 1-0 on Saturday night.
Johnson pulled a pitch from Dario Alvarez (1-1) into the first row of the right-field seats for his third homer.
Johnson began the year with the Braves before he was traded to the Mets on June 8. Alvarez was claimed off waivers from the Mets by the Braves in late May.
The homer was the first extra-base hit of a game that began as a terrific duel between Jacob deGrom and Julio Teheran. They each threw eight scoreless innings.
Addison Reed (2-2) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the Mets, who now trail first-place Washington by two games in the NL East.
Jeurys Familia worked the 11th for his majors-leading 26th save in 26 chances. He got Nick Markakis to ground into a double play with runners on first and second to end it.
Jace Peterson singled off Familia to begin the 11th and moved to second on Ender Inciarte's sacrifice bunt. Following an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman, Markakis hit a hard comebacker to Familia.
Teheran extended his career-best string of scoreless innings to 23. He threw a one-hit shutout last Sunday to win in New York, and the Mets were still baffled by him at Turner Field.
Teheran gave up five hits, walked none and struck out seven. He recorded 15 consecutive outs before Curtis Granderson singled with two outs in the eighth. After a steal, Teheran struck out Asdrubal Cabrera to end the inning.
DeGrom gave up seven hits and a walk, striking out six. His streak of winless starts for the Mets reached 10, the longest of his career.
The mental mistake cost the Mets a chance in the 10th.
Wilmer Flores led off with a bloop single and Matt Reynolds pinch-ran. Alejandro De Aza tried to bunt and popped it up, but instead of immediately running to first, he slammed down his bat in frustration.
Reliever Jim Johnson, seeing De Aza lingering down the line, let the ball drop before throwing to second to start a double play. The relay to first beat De Aza's head-first slide.
Granderson's sliding catch in foul territory of Tyler Flowers' fly ball ended the ninth inning.
Before the game, the Mets signed Jose Reyes to a minor league deal, sent slumping outfielder Michael Conforto to Triple-A Las Vegas and called up outfielder Brandon Nimmo from Las Vegas.
Reyes was released by Colorado after he served a 59-day suspension for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.
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