ATLANTA — Kyle Farnsworth has gone from squeezed out to an important piece of the Mets bullpen.
The veteran reliever, who was assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas before the season began, pitched a shutout eighth inning against the Braves on Tuesday for a third straight scoreless outing.
Farnsworth retired B.J. Upton, Freddie Freeman and Chris Johnson in succession in the eighth as part of the Mets’ 4-0 victory over the Braves.
“One thing he does, he’s been there,” manager Terry Collins said. “Each and every time I think his velocity has crept up and we know he throws strikes. He’s not intimidated by stuff and that’s a big spot in that part of the game to come in and throw all your pitches for strikes, which he can do.”
Farnsworth’s velocity had hovered in the high-80s for much of spring training, but lately he’s been in the 93- to 94-mph range. He returned to the Mets last week after Bobby Parnell was placed on the disabled list with a torn medial collateral ligament.
“I really don’t try to pay attention to velocity, just as long as I get people out,” Farnsworth said. “That’s what you want to see.”
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Parnell underwent successful Tommy John surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery, according to the Mets. Collins said he had no qualms with Parnell’s decision to have the surgery now instead of waiting to see if he could rehab through a throwing program. Parnell will miss the next 10 to 14 months.
“He was concerned about always waking up every day knowing that he had a tear in there, and how long would it last, so he made the right decision,” Collins said.
“I know he’ll get after it and he wanted to be ready for next year, along with [Matt Harvey] and all the other things people are looking at down the road pitching-wise. It’s pretty exciting to think all those guys are going to be back, all 100 percent at the same time.”
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The Braves celebrated the anniversary of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run with a pregame ceremony that included 715 fans on the field in No. 44 jerseys holding cardboard cutout baseballs, each displaying a number to signify one of Aaron’s first 715 homers.
Aaron homered off the Dodgers’ Al Downing on April 8, 1974, at Fulton County Stadium to move ahead of Babe Ruth on the all-time list.
Commissioner Bud Selig was in attendance to commemorate the historic blast. Aaron’s former Braves teammates Phil Niekro, Dusty Baker, Ralph Garr, Tom House, Marty Perez and Ron Reed also attended.
“It means an awful lot to me,” Aaron said of breaking Ruth’s record. “I’m not one to go around bragging about certain things. I played the game because I loved the game. I loved to play the game. It was a great challenge to me.”
Aaron finished with 755 career homers, a mark that Barry Bonds eclipsed. But Bonds’ link to performance-enhancing drugs has clouded the issue.
Former Braves broadcaster Pete Van Wieren, who hosted the on-field ceremony, received rousing applause for this introduction of Aaron: “He’s still recognized as major league baseball’s true home-run king.”