Flushing, NY – Mike Minor was outstanding on the mound and had a pretty good day inside the batter's box, too.
The lefty spun 7 1/3 innings of three-hit ball and belted his first career home run among his two hits, as the Atlanta Braves shut out the New York Mets, 6-0, in the middle test of a three-game set from Citi Field.
Minor (6-2) recorded his third straight victory in style, hitting double digits in strikeouts while adding a two-run homer to begin a five-run fifth inning.
He struck out 10 batters, just his second time reaching double digits and first since his rookie season.
After finishing off Friday's rain-suspended contest earlier Saturday with a 7-5 win in 10 innings, the Braves pounded Dillon Gee (2-6) for five runs during the game-breaking fifth en route to the club's eighth straight win.
Atlanta scored all six of its runs with two out. Freddie Freeman collected a pair of RBI singles, Justin Upton had two hits and knocked in a run, while Jason Heyward scored twice and had an RBI in the victory.
New York, shut out for the second time during the week, received half of its six hits from Ruben Tejada. The Mets lost to the Reds, 4-0, on Tuesday and have dropped five straight and six of their last seven contests.
Minor struck out five over the first four innings and then helped his own cause by plating the Braves' first runs with his shot over the left-field wall.
The blast sparked Atlanta's offense, which only had two hits through the first four innings, and it went on to produce three more runs in the fifth. Gee surrendered six straight hits, all with two out.
Andrelton Simmons doubled and scored on a single from Heyward, Upton laced an RBI double into left and Freeman capped the inning with a run scoring-base hit into right to provide the Braves with a 5-0 lead.
Minor made the lead stand from there, retiring 10 of the last 13 batters he faced. He walked two and hit one batter in the outing.
Freeman extended the margin to six in the seventh with a grounder up the middle to plate Heyward, who drew a two-out walk and moved up on a Justin Upton dribbler.
New York put two runners on in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Ike Davis struck out -- the 15th time he's done so in the last 10 games -- and Jordany Valdespin grounded out to end the game.
Game Notes
David Carpenter pitched the last 1 2/3 innings for the Braves. He allowed three hits and struck out two ... New York's David Wright struck out three times ... Simmons had two hits for Atlanta ... The Mets were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
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