Mets rally past Braves in extras for 7th straight win
ATLANTA -- Daniel Murphy found the best way to make up for a poor day in the field.
"I was very fortunate the team even gave me an opportunity in that last at-bat," he said, "because I wasn't playing very well."
Murphy hit a tying three-run homer in the ninth inning, Kirk Nieuwenhuis scored the tiebreaking run on a throwing error in the 10th and the New York Mets won their seventh straight game with a 10-7 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
New York, which earned its first four-game sweep of the Braves since July 20-23, 1989, at Shea Stadium, stayed 9 games ahead of Washington in the NL East with 19 games left in the regular season.
"It's really hard to imagine that we would be sitting where we are right now," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Even though we thought we had a good team, this is far above what we expected."
Atlanta dropped to 14-46 since July 8 and has lost 12 straight at Turner Field, the longest franchise home skid since the 1931 Boston Braves.
"We have a home losing streak? I had no idea," first baseman Freddie Freeman said. "It's tough, but hopefully we can come back on Tuesday and break it."
All of the Mets' final six runs came with two outs. Bobby Parnell (2-3) got the win, allowing one hit and striking out one in 1 1-3 innings. Addison Reed earned his fourth save in seven chances with a perfect 10th.
Murphy's 11th homer, coming off Ryan Kelly, made it 7-all.
Facing Edwin Jackson (2-3) in the 10th, Nieuwenhuis scored when Hector Olivera threw errantly to pull second baseman Daniel Castro off the bag and let Ruben Tejada beat the tag attempt.
New York added a pair of runs on bases-loaded walks. Jackson allowed one hit, three walks and three runs -- none earned -- and struck out one in two-thirds of an inning.
Poor fielding nearly undid the Mets as first baseman Lucas Duda, third baseman Juan Uribe, second baseman Murphy and right fielder Curtis Granderson all had a tough afternoon.
Only Uribe was charged with an error, but New York blew chances at some easy outs, the last coming when Granderson lost Garcia's bloop single in the sun for a 7-4 lead in the eighth.
New York starter Jonathon Niese gave up eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts. Two of his three runs allowed were earned.
The Braves made it 2-all in the third, thanks in part to Duda pulling his foot off the bag on Nick Markakis' infield single and dropping Adonis Garcia's foul popup. Garcia and Andrelton Simmons followed with RBI singles.
Atlanta took a 3-2 lead in the sixth. Simmons led off to single, advanced to third when Uribe let a grounder roll through his legs and scored on Michael Bourn's sacrifice fly.
Murphy helped the Braves make it 4-all in the seventh, failing to glove a potential double-play grounder on what was scored a single by Freeman.
"I fielded like garbage today," Murphy said, "so it's always nice to get a win."
The Mets took a 2-0 lead in the second on Michael Conforto's seventh homer.
Granderson's two-run single in the seventh put the Mets up 4-3. Braves starter Ryan Weber allowed five hits, four runs, two walks and struck out two in 6 1-3 innings in his second career start.
NEW YORK NOTABLES
Murphy's homer was the third in franchise history to erase a deficit of at least three runs with the Mets down to their final out. Victor Diaz, with a three-run shot on Sept. 25, 2004, against the Chicago Cubs, and Carl Everett, with a grand slam against Montreal on Sept. 13, 1997, had the others. ... The Mets hadn't trailed by three runs in the ninth and won since May 11, 2014, against Philadelphia.
TRAINER'S ROOM
METS: SS Wilmer Flores and C Travis d'Arnaud were given extra rest and left out of the lineup.
BRAVES: CF Cameron Maybin had missed seven straight games with a scratched eye before pinch-running in the eighth. He made a diving attempt in center field to catch Juan Lagares' double in the ninth.
UP NEXT
METS: RHP Logan Verrett (1-1) will temporarily take Matt Harvey's spot in the rotation and make his second career start as New York begins a three-game home series against Miami.
BRAVES: RHP Julio Teheran (10-7) has no decision and an 8.68 ERA in two career starts against Toronto.
