Mets 7, Braves 2
ATLANTA -- Right-hander Bartolo Colon's scoreless streak ended, but the 42-year-old pitched well enough to earn his 14th win as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 7-2 on Thursday at Turner Field.
Colon extended his scoreless streak to 31 innings before the Braves scratched for a pair of runs in the seventh inning. It was the team's longest scoreless streak since R.A. Dickey set the franchise record of 32 2/3 innings in 2012.
Colon (14-11) threw 94 pitches in 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits, with two strikeouts and one walk. Colon has won his last four decisions and improved to 5-0 in his career at Turner Field. Colon also had a hit and drove in a run.
Rookie Dario Alvarez followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Addison Reed pitched a scoreless ninth to finish the game.
The win enabled the Mets (79-61) to equal their win total from 2014 and increased their lead in the NL East to 7 1/2 games over the idle Washington Nationals.
The New York offense was led by catcher Kevin Plawecki, who had a double and three RBIs, and third baseman Jose Uribe, who was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Atlanta pitcher Shelby Miller (5-14) allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings, with five strikeouts and two walks, and has lost 13 straight games. Miller extended his winless streak to 21 games. It is the longest single-season winless streak in Atlanta history, one short of the record set by Carl Morton in 1975-76. It's the 13th time this season that the Braves have failed to score a run for Miller.
The Mets broke through to score three runs in the fourth inning and take a 3-0 lead.
Third baseman Juan Uribe rolled a single up the middle to lead off the inning and went to second on an infield single by second baseman Kelly Johnson. Catch Kevin Plawecki sliced a double into the gap in right to drive in two runs and then scored when Colon slapped a single to center field.
The Braves had runners on base in the first three innings against Colon but failed to score.
Atlanta's best chance came in the first inning when first baseman Freddie Freeman and catcher A.J. Pierzynski had back-to-back singles with two outs. But left fielder Nick Swisher was retired on an easy grounder to second base to end the threat.
The Mets added a run in the seventh inning. Reliever Ross Detwiler walked right fielder Curtis Granderson and center fielder Yoenis Cespedes and left the game with a left hamstring strain. Andrew McKirahan entered the game and allowed a one-out broken bat single to Uribe.
Atlanta scored twice in the seventh to break Colon's streak. Left fielder Nick Swisher led off with a single and scored on second baseman Jace Peterson's triple. Simmons followed with an RBI single to cut the lead to 4-2.
New York extended the lead to 5-2 with a run in the eighth. Shortstop Wilmer Flores walked and pinch runner Eric Young Jr. went to second on a wild pitch, took third on Johnson's fly-out to center and scored on Plawecki's infield grounder.
The Mets iced the game with two runs in the ninth against rookie reliever Ryan Kelly. Granderson and first baseman Lucas Duda walked and Uribe drove them home with a two-run double.
NOTES: Thursday's game was delayed 2 hours, 20 minutes when an afternoon thunderstorm blew through. ... Atlanta activated RHP Dan Winkler from the 60-day disabled list. Winkler underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2014 and was acquired by the Braves in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft from Colorado. He is expected to work out of the bullpen during the last month of the season. Once Winkler appears in a game, he will be the 60th player used by the Braves this season. ... Mets GM Sandy Alderson said RHP Matt Harvey will skip his next start Monday against Miami, with rookie RHP Logan Verrett taking his turn. Harvey is expected to start again on Sept. 20 against the New York Yankees and make only one other regular-season start. The Mets also will monitor the innings pitched by rookie RHP Noah Syndergaard. ... Mets manager Terry Collins gave a night off to 2B Daniel Murphy and C Travis d'Arnaud and started former Brave Kelly Johnson at second and Kevin Plawecki behind the plate. ... The starting pitchers for Friday's second game of the four-game series are New York LHP Steven Matz (2-0, 1.89 ERA) and Atlanta's Matt Wisler (5-6, 5.81).