Freeman comes off bench to lift Braves past Mets, 6-3

NEW YORK Freddie Freeman came off the bench to hit a two-run double and a three-run homer Wednesday night, giving the Braves their second consecutive series win.

Freeman, out of the lineup with a sore wrist, hit a pinch-hit two-run double to put the Braves ahead in the seventh inning, then crushed a three-run homer in the ninth off Mets closer Jeurys Familia for a 6-3 win in a series finale at Citi Field.

The Braves have won five of their past six games, but consecutive wins against the National League East-leading Mets gave them their first series win in six weeks against a team other than the last-place Philadelphia Phillies, the only major league team with a worse record than the Braves (62-91).

After sweeping the Phillies at home last weekend, the Braves started their final road trip of the season with a 2-1 series win against the Mets, and will have a day off in Miami before a three-game series against the Marlins starting Friday.

In 55 games against the Mets during the 2012-2014 seasons, Freeman hit .325 with 18 doubles, 12 homers, 51 RBIs, and a .580 slugging percentage. But in 15 games against them this season, he was 11-for-58 (.190) with two homers, five RBIs and a .293 slugging percentage.

In one night, with two late-innings swings, he reminded the Mets and their fans of what a force he can be.

After Mets starter Bartolo Colon took a perfect game into the fifth inning and two-hit shutout through six, the Braves flipped the script in a three-run seventh inning that started with three singles to load the bases and chase Colon from the game.

Michael Bourn greeted reliever Addison Reed with an RBI single and Freeman’s two-run double gave the Braves a 3-2 lead.

Colon retired the first 14 batters before Jace Peterson’s two-out infield single in the fifth inning. Cameron popped out to end the inning, and Colon worked out of a runners-on-the-corners, one-out jam in the sixth by getting Hector Olivera to fly out to shallow left and Nick Swisher to ground out.

Braves rookie Williams Perez wiggled out of a few tight spots to work six innings, allowing seven hits and two runs with one walk and two strikeouts. He gave up a two-out homer to Daniel Murphy in the first inning, and a run on three hits in the second including Lucas Duda’s leadoff double and David Wright’s RBI single.

Wright tied the game in the seventh with a two-out single off reliever Brandon Cunniff, after Ruben Tejada singled off rookie Matt Marksberry to start the inning. Four of five pitchers used by the Braves were rookies Perez, Cunniff, Marksberry, closer Arodys Vizcaino.

Before Wednesday, Colon was 4-0 with a 3.51 ERA in four starts against the Braves this season, and 8-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 10 career starts against them. Nick Swisher had been 7-for-15 with two homers against him, and Andrelton Simmons was 11-for-20 against him before Wednesday.

“That son of a gun (Colon), everybody hits .600 against him but nobody scores,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said 21/2 hours before the game, a comment that seemed prescient for much of the night.

But in the seventh inning, with the Braves trailing 2-0, they got singles from A.J. Pierzynski and Simmons to start the inning, and a one-out single from Cameron Maybin to load the bases.

Reed replaced Colon and fell behind 3-1 against the first batter he faced, Bourn, who tossed his bat and headed to first base after the next pitch, sure that it was ball four. It was called a strike, and Bourn, in disbelief, retrieved his bat, stepped back in the box and drove the next pitch for an opposite-field single that cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Freeman was out of the lineup Tuesday after aggravating a wrist injury that put him on the disabled list this summer. But he entered the game to pinch-hit for Perez and came within 4-5 feet of hitting a grand slam, settling for a two-run double off the right-field wall and a 3-2 lead.

The Braves had a chance to blow the game open after the Mets intentionally walked Nick Markakis to reload the bases for Hector Olivera, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Simmons grounded into an inning-ending double play in the eighth against reliever Tyler Clippard, who hit pinch-hitter Pedro Ciriaco with a pitch to start the inning.

Colon got no decision and was charged with five hits, three runs and one walk with one strikeout in 61/3 innings. The portly right-hander is 8-0 this season in nine starts against the Braves and Phillies, 4-2 in six starts against the Marlins, and 2-10 against everyone else.

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