Rally Time: Mets Storm Back To Beat Braves

METS 4
BRAVES 3

It took about 17 innings for the Mets offense to wake up, but when they did, it was not a moment too soon. After the Atlanta Braves had built a 3-0 lead going into the eighth inning of Tuesday night's game against the Mets, it appeared that New York was on its way to another dismal defeat; instead, it was an interesting comeback and victory.

Braves starter Jair Jurrijens fell apart in the eighth; he surrendered a single to light-hitting Jeremeny Reed and another single to the struggling Ryan Church to kick off the inning. Jose Reyes followed that up with a two run double off the 16 foot wall. Reyes tried to extend the double into a triple, but he was tagged out at third by Chipper Jones. Sometimes Reyes' imagination is bigger then his bite!

That was enough for Bobby Cox, who had no choice but to go to his beleagured bullpen for the rest of the night. That turned out to be the biggest mistake Cox made. In the ninth with wacky closer Mike Gonzalez on the mound, Carlos Beltran got things going with a double down the left field line. Beltran would later steal third, and Gonzalez would hit Fernando Tatis in the shoulder to put two on base. Luis Castillo, pinch hitting for Reed, hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Beltran to tie the game at three. Box score.

Francisco Rodriguez was brilliant in two innings of relief, working around lead off singles in both the ninth and tenth innings to earn his first victory as a Metropolitan. Finally, in the bottom of the tenth, Jeff Bennett imploded for the Braves. Bennett gave up a single to Reyes, intentionally walked Cora, and even lost Ramon Castro to a walk to load the bases. At this point, Bennett had nothing left; he walked Beltran on five pitches to end the game and hand the Mets a 4-3 victory.

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