Braves 6, Mets 0
Aaron Harang pitched seven no-hit innings and Freddie Freeman belted a two-run homer as visiting Atlanta won for the sixth time in seven games.
Harang (3-1) battled through seven innings, walking six and striking out five while throwing 70 of his 121 pitches for strikes. Reliever Luis Avilan got the first two outs of the eighth before David Wright looped a single into left field for the Mets’ only hit.
Chris Johnson finished 3-for-4 with two doubles for the Braves, who broke open the game with four runs in the eighth, highlighted by Freeman’s fifth homer. New York starter Jonathon Niese (0-2) gave up one run on four hits in six innings, walking three and striking out seven.
Harang tired considerably in his final two innings, walking a pair of Mets in the sixth and seventh, but struck out Curtis Granderson looking to end the sixth and got Andrew Brown swinging to conclude the seventh. Signed after being released by the Indians the final week of spring training, Harang lowered his ERA to 0.70 in four starts with Atlanta, and has allowed nine hits and two earned runs in 25 2/3 innings
Atlanta jumped in front 1-0 in the second on Johnson’s double to left, scoring Justin Upton. After Freeman’s homer in the eighth, Dan Uggla scored on a throwing error and Jordan Schafer doubled home Johnson to push the advantage to 5-0.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Mets traded 1B Ike Davis – who lost the starting job to Lucas Duda – to Pittsburgh before the game for minor-league RHP Zack Thornton and a player to be named later. … Atlanta RF Jason Heyward, mired in a 2-for-27 slump, did not play. … Freeman, Uggla and B.J. Upton each finished with two hits.