Jose Reyes tied his career high with five RBIs, New York pounded out 20 hits and Jacob deGrom managed to hang around long enough to get the win, leading the Mets to a 16-5 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
Rene Rivera drove in three runs, while Michael Conforto and deGrom had two RBIs apiece to overshadow two early base-running blunders that resulted in double plays for the Mets.
Reyes had a run-scoring single in the third, a sacrifice fly in the fifth and finished off the Braves with a three-run double in the eighth.
DeGrom (2-1) struggled on the mound, surrendering eight hits, walking five and giving up five runs. He threw 109 pitches before being lifted after five innings.
The Mets jumped all over former teammate Bartolo Colon (1-3), who spent the last three seasons in New York. The 43-year-old lasted just four innings, giving up five runs, seven hits and two walks.
Colon was much more effective in his first start of the season against the Mets - a six-inning stint on April 5 at New York in which he allowed only two hits and a run. This time, he fell behind 5-0 by the third.
The Braves closed the deficit to 5-3 before the Mets scored four runs in the fifth off reliever Josh Collmenter, including a two-out, two-run single by deGrom.
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The right-hander did his best to keep Atlanta in the game, giving up two runs in the bottom half. But the New York bullpen shut down the Braves the rest of the way, and the Mets turned it into a laugher by matching a season high for hits.
Jace Peterson and Emilio Bonifacio had two RBIs apiece for Atlanta.
FAILING ON THE BASES
The Mets prevailed despite a pair of Little League-like mistakes.
In the first, after already scoring two runs, New York had runners at second and third with only one out when Reyes popped out to the shortstop. Neil Walker took off running from second base, apparently thinking there were two outs. Just before he got to third, teammate Jay Bruce frantically waved him back. It was too late. Dansby Swanson flipped to second in plenty of time to double off Walker, ending the inning.
In the third, it was Reyes who got caught off second on a routine fly ball to right. He lollygagged back to the bag, Nick Markakis fired the ball back to the infield and a surprised Reyes was tagged by Swanson for another needless double play.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: C Travis d'Arnaud was out after leaving Tuesday's game because of a sore right wrist. With d'Arnaud sidelined, New York hastily recalled IF Wilmer Flores, who had missed two weeks with a staph infection in his right knee, from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Braves: 2B Brandon Phillips rested his sore left groin after playing the last four games, including three starts.
UP NEXT
Mets: RHP Zack Wheeler (1-2) brings a career record of 4-2 with a 2.94 ERA in eight starts against his hometown team. He is a native of Smyrna, which is only about 3 miles from SunTrust Park.
Braves: LHP Jaime Garcia (1-1) will make his sixth start of the season. He is 2-4 with a 3.06 ERA in eight career starts against the Mets.
