Turns out Bartolo Colon's stiff back was the least of the Mets' worries Saturday. Their inability to hit a starting pitcher, their sorry home form and their closer-turned-launching pad were far more troublesome.
A day after suffering a one-hit shutout at the hands of the Braves, they lost 7-5 to Atlanta in front of 31,476 at Citi Field.
Those long-suffering Flushing Faithful have gotten used to seeing their Mets' lose at home. They're 6-3 on the road, but fell to just 2-6 at home. They rallied with two runs in the eighth and two more in the ninth, only to see Travis d'Arnaud ground out with the bases loaded.
Colon (1-3) had been the biggest question mark coming in, after last Sunday's start in Anaheim. He had been knocked around for 11 hits, nine runs and four homers in just five innings, then complained of an aching back afterward that put Saturday's start in doubt. But they apparently have far bigger problems.
The 35-year-old right-hander scattered eight hits over seven solid innings, walking just one and striking out six to hold Atlanta to three runs. It was a quality start, but there has been nothing quality about the Mets' attack at home.
Struggling closer Jose Valverde came on for the ninth and — after his comical fielding error on Jordan Schafer — compounded matters by serving up Justin Upton's three-run blast to dead center. He has allowed four homers in his last three appearances, giving the Mets just one more problem to worry about.
The Mets came into Saturday night's game fifth in baseball in runs (47) and seventh in batting average (.257) on the road. But home has been more crucible than castle as the Mets are tied for second-worst in runs (21) and are dead last by a wide margin in average (.160).
They did little to help their cause against Atlanta starter Ervin Santana (2-0), who allowed just six hits and a run, walking one and striking out seven for a 0.86 ERA.
Eric Young Jr. drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third on Daniel Murphy's sacrifice fly and scored on David Wright's RBI single. Wright slapped Ervin Santana's full-count pitch through the hole at short to make it 1-0. But
Atlanta took the lead with two in the third, and never gave it up.
With runners on first and second, Colon got the dangerous Freddie Freeman to hit a dribbler in front of the mound. But after Colon fielded it, he fired wide to first, and both runs scored.
On the replay, it looked like the ball hit off Freeman's right foot in the batters' box, which means the play would be a foul ball. Manager Terry Collins came out to argue, but the call stood.
Freeman's RBI double n the fifth made it 3-1. And after Daisuke Matsuzaka came on for his first relief appearance since May 4, 2011, he uncorked a run-scoring wild pitch to put the Mets in a three-run hole.
They didn't mount any kind of rally until they finally got into the Braves bullpen, facing righty David Carpenter. Murphy and Wright singled, and after right fielder Curtis Granderson popped out to third, left fielder Chris Young drove an RBI single to left.
Lucas Duda, who Mets general manager Sandy Alderson backed for the first base job by shipping Ike Davis to Pittsburgh Friday, nearly made the latter look prescient. While Davis went 2-for-3 with two runs and a walk in his
Pirates debut, Duda golfed a ball in the eighth that looked destined for the right field loge, and a go-ahead three-run shot, but it died on the warning track and fell into Jason Heyward's glove.
Later that inning, D'Arnaud singled over leaping second baseman Dan Uggla to get the Mets within a run. But when Collins let Ruben Tejada stay in rather than call for a pinch-hitter, the struggling shortstop grounded out to strand the tying run at third.
In the ninth, Wright hit an RBI double and — after the struggling Granderson (0-for-5) struck out and got booed lustily — Young added an RBI single. Duda walked to load the bases, but d'Arnaud grounded out against Jordan Walden (first save of the year) to end it.
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