Atlanta Braves complete sweep of New York Mets for seventh straight win

The Atlanta Braves completed their sweep of the New York Mets tonight thanks to a fantastic effort from Julio Teheran and the pitching staff and a key Chris Johnson hit in the first inning.

As we discussed in our game three preview, Jacob DeGrom struggled with his command–well, he actually only struggled with his command in the first inning, but it was bad enough to prove decisive. After B.J. Upton started things off with a single, Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman both walked to load up the bases and put the team in prime position to score a lot of early runs. However, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward went down back-to-back and it started to look like the team was going to blow a golden opportunity.

But, Chris Johnson (to the delight of Eric Graff), came through with a two out double down the left field line to clear the bases and provide the night’s run support.

Teheran was fine with that, as he would go on to toss seven one-run innings while striking out five batters, walking three and allowing just four hits. He’s been phenomenal all season long for the Braves and is clearly the No. 1 guy at this point.

After Teheran came out of the game, Anthony Varvaro and Jordan Walden made short work of the final two innings, shutting the Mets out, allowing just a single hit and recording three strikeouts between the two of them.

Again, the Braves offense still isn’t clicking throughout the entire lineup, but just enough is happening offensively to support a resurgent pitching staff. The starters and relievers have done well lately, and the timely hitting has fuled the Braves on a seven game winning streak–enough to keep Atlanta a half game ahead of the similarly hot Washington Nationals.

The Braves will wrap up their last home series before the All-Star break this weekend (starting Friday) against Arizona before going on the road for a series in New York and wrapping up the first half of the season in Chicago.