Ruben Tejada raised his right hand and pointed to the Mets dugout, officially starting the celebration.
On a night the Mets seemed destined for a crushing defeat after squandering a two-run lead late, it was the resurgent Tejada to the rescue with an RBI single against Anthony Varvaro in the 11th inning that brought a 4-3 victory over the Braves at Citi Field on Monday night.
“We stayed fighting all the way to the end — a good win,” said Tejada, who had delivered the club’s previous walk-off hit, on May 11 against the Phillies.
Carlos Torres (4-4) got the victory with two innings of shutout relief, but was also sore after taking B.J. Upton’s line drive off his right hand in the 11th. Torres underwent X-rays that were negative and was diagnosed with a right-hand contusion.
The Mets had threatened in the ninth, after getting a call overturned by replay. Eric Campbell was originally ruled out at second base on Juan Lagares’ sacrifice bunt attempt, but replay determined Andrelton Simmons’ foot was off the bag. Because Simmons had stretched like a first baseman to receive the throw, it wasn’t deemed a “neighborhood play,” which can’t be reviewed by replay.
“I thought I was out,” Campbell said. “I didn’t even know he really came off the bag until [first base coach Tom Goodwin] said something to me.”
But the Mets failed to capitalize, as Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud and Eric Young Jr. all went quietly against Shae Simmons.
Jenrry Mejia allowed a run over 1 ¹/₃ innings, surrendering two big hits in the eighth that helped the Braves take a 3-2 lead. The blown save was Mejia’s second in 10 chances this season. The Braves scored three runs in the inning against Mejia, Vic Black and Josh Edgin.
Curtis Granderson brought the Mets back from the grave with a two-out solo homer against Luis Avilan in the eighth that tied the game at 3-3.
“Once you tie things up, now all of a sudden momentum switches,” Granderson said. “You don’t see it too much in baseball, but it can move really quickly.”
Granderson’s blast was the Mets’ first hit since the second inning. Lefty Mike Minor had dominated them from that point and finished with two runs allowed on two hits over seven innings in the no-decision.
Christian Bethancourt delivered an RBI single in the eighth against Mejia that gave the Braves their first lead at 3-2, after Black and Edgin failed earlier in the inning.
Freddie Freeman doubled with one out in the eighth against Black to start the go-ahead rally. After Justin Upton was retired, with Freeman moving to third, Edgin entered and unloaded a wild pitch for the Braves’ first run. Jason Heyward then singled — to snap Edgin’s franchise-record streak of 23 first batters retired to begin the season — before Mejia entered and allowed an RBI double to Chris Johnson that tied the game. Tommy La Stella was then intentionally walked and Bethancourt’s single followed.
Daisuke Matsuzaka fired a six-hitter over seven shutout innings to carry the Mets into the eighth with a 2-0 lead.
“A game like today I think is the type of pitching I was striving for,” said Matsuzaka, who had allowed five earned runs in each of his previous two starts. “That was the type of game I wanted to pitch.”
D’Arnaud’s RBI double in the second and David Wright’s homer in the third accounted for the early runs.
After getting swept three games in Atlanta last week, the Mets (40-49) considered Monday a good first step in trying to climb back into the NL East race. The Mets’ deficit on the division-leading Braves is nine games.
“We needed it bad,” manager Terry Collins said. “It’s a big game for us to start the series with. The guys hung in there, battled great, got some good pitching.”