Ross drives in 4 as Braves beat Mets, 7-5

ATLANTA – David Ross homered and drove in four runs, Chipper Jones also connected and the Atlanta Braves survived a crisis at shortstop to beat the New York Mets 7-5 on Friday night.

The Braves started the day thin at shortstop. They chose to wait to replace rookie Andrelton Simmons, who broke his right little finger on Sunday and will be out at least a month. Atlanta then lost shortstop Jack Wilson with another pinkie injury.

Wilson dislocated the middle joint of his right little finger sliding while chasing a grounder in the fourth inning. Wilson's exit forced Martin Prado, the starter in left field, to play shortstop for the first time in four years.

The Braves said X-rays on Wilson were negative and he is day to day.

Jones hit his 49th career homer against the Mets in the sixth off Josh Edgin, making his major league debut.

Cristhian Martinez (4-1) pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth. He gave up one walk with two strikeouts in one inning.

Craig Kimbrel earned his NL-leading 26th save with three strikeouts in the ninth.

Mets pitchers issued a season-high 11 walks.

Ross also had three of those walks, including a bases-loaded pass from Chris Young in the first inning.

Ross filled at catcher with Brian McCann on paternity leave. McCann's wife, Ashley, delivered the couple's first child, a son, on Friday.

Young (2-3) gave up five runs on six hits and three walks in three innings. His three walks came in the first inning, setting an ugly pace.

Ross hit a three-run homer off Young in the third, driving in Jones and Freddie Freeman. The homer gave the Braves a 5-0 lead, but the Mets scored four runs in the fourth to knock Tim Hudson out of the game.

Kirk Nieuwenhuis had a two-run single, Scott Hairston drove in a run with a double and Ruben Tejada added a run-scoring single.

Wilson's right hand hit the ground as he slid while chasing a grounder by Nieuwenhuis into center field in the Mets' four-run fourth.

Prado played two games at shortstop in 2008. He appeared comfortable at the position, handling grounders cleanly in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.

Left-hander Edgin, called up from Triple-A Buffalo before the game, entered in the fifth after Miguel Batista loaded the bases with three walks. Edgin struck out pinch-hitter Juan Francisco and Michael Bourn to end the inning.

The Mets couldn't score after loading the bases with no outs in the fifth. Hudson gave up a single to David Wright before walking Ike Davis. Martinez walked Lucas Duda to load the bases before striking out Hairston and Nieuwenhuis and ending the inning on Jose Thole's flyball to centerfield.

Edgin gave up two runs in the sixth. After Jones' two-out homer, Freeman doubled off Edgin and scored on Dan Uggla's single off Ramon Ramirez.

Pinch-hitter Ronny Cedeno doubled off Braves left-hander Eric O'Flaherty and scored on a single by Andres Torres in the eight.

Jones' homer left him tied with Mike Schmidt for second place on the career list for most RBIs by third basemen at 1,595. George Brett is first with 1,596.

Jones, who also had a double, has a 14-game hitting streak.

NOTES: A Turner Field power outage in the second inning caused a delay of 16 minutes. ... The Mets did not sign their second-round pick, RHP Teddy Stankiewicz of Fort Worth Christian High School in Richland Hills, Texas, by Friday's deadline. The Braves didn't sign C Levi Borders, an 11th-round pick from Winter Haven (Fla.) High School. He is the son of former catcher Pat Borders. ... The Braves signed RHP Matt Kimbrel, the younger brother of Atlanta's closer. Matt Kimbrel was a 31st-round pick. ... Mets manager Terry Collins says closer Frank Francisco, on the disabled list with a left oblique strain, will not throw on Saturday as had been planned. Collins said Francisco "just didn't feel right." ... The Mets said RHP Dillon Gee, who was placed on the 15-day DL, had successful right shoulder surgery. He could miss the remainder of the season. ... The series continues on Saturday as Braves RHP Tommy Hanson faces Mets All-Star R.A. Dickey.