Rick Ankiel made his first hit for Atlanta count, Chipper Jones hit his first home run in three weeks and Tim Hudson turned in another strong outing in leading the Braves to a 4-1 victory over the New York Mets on Monday.
Ankiel delivered a two-run, two-out single to cap a three-run first inning against Mets starter Johan Santana (8-6), who racked up a season-high 11 strikeouts over seven innings, but also surrendered four runs on nine hits.
The big first inning was more than enough support for Hudson (12-5), who held the Mets to one run on six hits over six innings, striking out three and walking three. He has allowed one run or fewer in five of his last seven starts.
Jonny Venters, Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner each worked scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with Wagner earning his 25th save.
Matt Diaz continued his hot hitting against Santana with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run, improving to 16-for-29 against the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
Jones hit a solo homer off Santana in the seventh, his eighth of the season and his first since July 15.
Carlos Beltran drove in the Mets' run with a double in the fifth.
NY Mets | Atlanta | |
Johan Santana | Player | Tim Hudson |
Loss | W/L | Win |
7.0 | IP | 6.0 |
11 | Strikeouts | 3 |
9 | Hits | 6 |
5.14 | ERA | 1.50 |
NY Mets | Atlanta | |
Chris Carter | Player | Rick Ankiel |
1 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 2 |
0 | HR | 0 |
1 | TB | 3 |
1.000 | Avg | .500 |