Atlanta Braves starter Mike Minor continued his excellent work on the mound Thursday night as he led the way for the Braves leading to a 6-1 victory over the New York Mets.
Minor flirted with a no-hitter last week against the Cincinnati Reds and continued the theme tonight as the he had a no-hitter through the first four innings. Lucas Duda broke up the no-no to start the fifth inning with a line drive single just out of the reach of shortstop Andrelton Simmons. The left-hander pitched into the eighth inning allowing only one run in the eighth inning that eventually removed him from the game. His final line in the box score comes out to seven innings, four hits, one run, zero walks, and five strikeouts.
Mike Minor also jumpstarted the offense by going 2-3 with a double and an RBI single in the second inning to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. Minor was able to work with the small lead until his teammates added two more in the eighth thanks to the leadoff double by Minor who scored on an RBI triple by Emilio Bonifacio, who then scored on an RBI single by Freddie Freeman.
After the Mets countered with a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, thanks to double by Travis d’Arnaud and run scoring single by Eric Campbell, the Braves extended the lead in the top of the ninth inning to seal the deal. Ryan Doumit smashed a two-run pinch hit homer, and Emilio Bonifacio drove in Jason Heyward from second with a single to give the Braves a 6-1 lead.
With the Braves victory tonight they finished their 10-game road trip going 6-4 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Mets. Atlanta let a few games get away from them but they were able to come away with a winning record on the road as they head home to face the Miami Marlins.
The Braves gained a half game in the division as the Washington Nationals were idle tonight. That puts the Braves 6 back in the division and 1.5 back in the Wild Card behind the San Francisco Giants.
The Braves offense continues to be a mystery as we head to September, but if the starting rotation continues to pitch as well as they have the Braves will continue to be in the playoff hunt as the games wind down.