Braves Keep the Mets Winless, 3-1

The New York Mets fell to 0-4 for the first time in 41 years, losing to the Atlanta Braves, 3-1, Friday night at Atlanta.

The Mets lost their first four games for the first time since 1964, when the franchise was in only its third year and the Braves played in Milwaukee. New York’s run came on Mike Piazza’s first homer of the season.

The Braves have won three in a row since an opening-day loss.

John Thomson (1-0) gave up eight hits and one run but didn’t walk a batter in seven innings.

Roman Colon stranded Jose Reyes at second base after a single and steal in the eighth inning, and Danny Kolb pitched the ninth for his third save in three chances.

Met starter Victor Zambrano gave up two runs and five hits and walked four in five innings but was hurt by sloppy fielding.

In the first inning, Marcus Giles stole second after he was hit by a pitch. After a walk to Andruw Jones, Giles scored when Adam LaRoche hit a sharp grounder that bounced off second baseman Kaz Matsui’s glove and into center field for a single.

Jones later scored from second without a throw to the plate when left fielder Cliff Floyd could not cleanly field Johnny Estrada’s single, giving the Braves a 2-0 lead.

Houston 3, Cincinnati 2 -- Roger Clemens yielded one run in seven innings at Houston and hit a tiebreaking, two-run single to lead the Astros over the Reds and tie Steve Carlton for ninth place with his 329th win. Coming off his record seventh Cy Young Award, Clemens walked none and struck out nine, raising his career total to 4,326.

St. Louis 6, Philadelphia 5 -- Larry Walker tied the score with a four-pitch walk from Aaron Fultz in the eighth inning, and Albert Pujols followed with another walk that forced in the go-ahead run in the Cardinals’ home opener.

New Cardinal shortstop David Eckstein reached base in all five plate appearances, making it eight in a row over a two-game span. The former Angel had three singles, a double and three walks, and was hit by a pitch.

Milwaukee 6, Chicago 3 -- The Brewers are unbeaten in three games for the first time in a decade. They rallied in the ninth inning against LaTroy Hawkins, then got run-scoring singles from Junior Spivey and Lyle Overbay in the 12th to beat the Cubs.

Spivey broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run single to left after the Brewers loaded the bases off Jon Leicester (0-1) when Russell Branyan and J.J. Hardy singled and Brady Clark was hit by a pitch. Overbay then singled off Todd Wellemeyer,

Florida 9, Washington 0 -- Dontrelle Willis pitched a five-hit shutout, and Miguel Cabrera homered twice to lead the Marlins at Miami. Willis walked one.

Pittsburgh 3, San Diego 2 -- Josh Fogg held the Padres to one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings, and also singled and scored to lead the Pirates at San Diego. The win left the Mets (0-4) as the majors’ only winless team.

San Francisco 10, Colorado 8 -- Marquis Grissom hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for the Giants, who battled back after blowing a six-run lead in the seventh inning.