METS 4, BRAVES 1
The force was with Carlos Torres on Star Wars night at Citi Field on Tuesday.
Torres used more than his arm to earn his first win as a Met, smacking an RBI single as well as pitching six innings of one-run ball in the Mets’ 4-1 win over Atlanta.
The righthander put himself in a quick 1-0 hole by surrendering a home run to Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons on the second pitch of the game.
The deficit could have been greater if not for Juan Lagares, who gunned down Atlanta’s Jason Heyward at the plate from center field after an Evan Gattis single.
“I really wasn’t that sharp at all today. I got a ton of help from the defense and a couple of lucky breaks,” said Torres, who hadn’t pitched since July 13. “I was just getting back on point.”
The homer would prove to be Torres’ lone blemish, as he consistently worked in and out of trouble between seven hits, two walks and six strikeouts in six innings.
“I think it was evidence of the 10 days off,” Terry Collins said. “As we saw going into his last start he does nothing but throw strikes. He was kind of off with his command with stuff. . . . but when he needed to make pitches he made pitches.”
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Torres struck back to make up for the Simmons homer by slapping a run-scoring single to left field – the second RBI of his career — off Atlanta starter Kris Medlen (6-10) to score Lagares and knot the score in the third.
“To tell you the truth I was actually kind of upset,” Torres said. “I got the hit, I was happy about that, but I jammed myself. It just so happened they were playing infield in and it squeaked through.”
The Mets put Torres in line for the win by adding three more runs in the sixth. Ike Davis put the Mets in front with a run-scoring double off the right field wall for his second RBI in as many days. John Buck followed with an RBI single, and a Lagares sacrifice fly upped the advantage to 4-1.
David Aardsma, Scott Rice, LaTroy Hawkins and Bobby Parnell combined to toss three innings of shutout ball in relief, putting Torres and the Mets back in the win column.
Though he was appreciative of the bullpen’s support, Torres was disappointed he couldn’t be of more help.
“If it wasn’t for a few lengthy at-bats and a few rough innings, I could have maybe gotten into the seventh and saved the bullpen an arm or two,” said Torres, who threw 96 pitches. “My biggest problem is going to be that I need to pitch to more contact. I need to get deeper into ballgames by getting guys to hit the ball more.”
Torres, who made his first start for the Mets on July 13, when Matt Harvey was skipped ahead of the All-Star Game, has allowed a combined three earned runs in 28.2 innings between starting and relieving. While most pitchers might be creatures of habit, Buck says the mixed responsibility has been perfect for Torres, who got his first win as a starter since he was with the White Sox in September 2009.
“He’s a little different than your average pitcher; he’s weirder than most,” the catcher said. “Spend a little time with him, you’ll know what I mean. He wears soccer cleats. I don’t know if much is going to bother that guy. I think he thrives on weirdness. The weirder you can make his schedule, the more comfortable he gets.”
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