Mets remember Yogi Berra: He 'played a key part in our history'

They finished an ugly homestand with a 6-3 loss to the Braves on Wednesday night. It ended a 3-6 stint in Queens, as the Mets dropped all three series they played.

Wednesday night’s defeat was especially painful, as Jeurys Familia allowed a three-run homer in the ninth to Freddie Freeman, who began the game on the bench with a stiff wrist, to break open a tie game.

“It’s been a rough homestand,” David Wright said after the Mets saw their lead in the NL East stay at 6 ½ games thanks to another loss by the dreadful Nationals. “Lately, we’ve played really well on the road. Hopefully we continue to be those road warriors.”

The Mets are now just 6-12 in their last 18 at home after starting the year 42-18. They closed their last trip on a seven-game winning streak and are now left to look to recreate that success starting Thursday in Cincinnati.

“Let’s go back and get on the road and see if we can rekindle some energy and have a good road trip and finish this off,” manager Terry Collins said.

That would be fine, but this certainly wasn’t the way they wanted to leave town, with series losses to the Yankees, as well as the lowly Braves and Marlins.

“We’ve been in that situation, where you’re playing for pride,” Collins said. “There’s no nicer feeling than going on that plane, knowing you’ve spoiled somebody’s party. We’ve done that before to other teams.”

Actually, a better feeling would probably be knowing you’re the team having the party — which is what the Mets are supposed to be doing.

And for a while on Wednesday night, it seemed like they were up to the task.

Bartolo Colon started with a flourish. It wasn’t until Jace Peterson hit a slow roller with two outs in the fifth that the Braves had a base runner and Colon still looked strong going into the seventh.

But three singles later, Colon was gone and the bases were loaded with one out for reliever Addison Reed. Reed gave up an RBI single to Michael Bourn and then a pinch-hit, two-run double to Freeman for a 3-2 Braves lead.

The Mets had squandered some chances to build on their two-run advantage, but left runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings.

“We got to them early, we just weren’t able to tack on runs,” Wright said.

And it came back to haunt them, especially after Wright’s single tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh and then Familia left a pitch up to Freeman in the ninth.

“It happens,” Wright said of Familia’s mistake. “All the best pitchers in the world are going to go out there and give up runs every now and then.”

Even Familia, who had surrendered just one earned run in his last 25 innings and hadn’t given up a homer since July 30.

“It’s tough heading down the stretch,” Wright said. “You know games are going to be close. The intensity level is high, so it’s nice to be able to have a little cushion, where they don’t have to worry about making a perfect pitch every time.”

Perhaps the best tonic will be a trip to Cincinnati to visit the last-place Reds, who have lost four in a row.

“You can’t take anybody for granted,” Collins said. “We’re still in a good spot. We’ve got to make it work.”

Coming off the bench because of the wrist issue, Freeman singlehandedly beat the Mets, driving in five runs in two at-bats, as the woeful Braves stunned the Citi Field crowd with their second straight win over the NL East-leading Mets, 6-3, to cap a dismal 3-6 homestand.

It wouldn’t have been possible without the ailing Freeman, who stroked a pinch-hit two-run double off the right-field fence in the seventh that gave the Braves a lead and hit a mammoth three-run shot to the opposite field in the ninth off closer Jeurys Familia to provide the winning margin.

“We heard before the game his wrist was really bothering him and they didn’t think he was going to play,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “So I’m going to fire that scout.”

Before the game, in fact, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez told reporters he wanted to avoid using Freeman. But with the Mets up a run, the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, Gonzalez called upon the left-handed slugger, who told his manager he would deal with the pain if the situation called for him to be used. Freeman, who said he feels a shooting pain in his wrist on every swing, launched a double off reliever Addison Reed, giving Atlanta the lead.

It didn’t sit well with David Wright.

When Wright pulled the Mets even with a two-out run-scoring single in the seventh, he dropped an F-Bomb on Freeman upon reaching first base.

“F— you,” Wright was caught saying on video.

Both players, good friends, said it was in jest. The cameras missed both of them smiling after the remark, according to the Braves first baseman.

“They caught that on TV?” Freeman, his right wrist heavily wrapped, asked sheepishly. “They don’t need to blow that. It’s all in fun.”

They didn’t share any words when Freeman gave the Braves the lead for good in the ninth, blasting a three-run shot off Familia, the first home run the closer has given up since July 30, a span of 27 outings.

“I didn’t even want to look at him,” Wright said with a slight smirk. “I had already been disgusted with him at that point. I like Freddie. I enjoy watching him beat other teams. I don’t like it when he does it to us.”

Freeman’s struggles this season against the Mets were bound to end at some point, despite his frustrating injury-plagued season. He has owned them since 2012, blasting 15 home runs and 61 RBIs, equal to or more than any other opposing player has against the Mets. And he got a lasting memory in what has been a forgettable 2015 season.

“It’s been one of those years that hasn’t gone the way we all wanted it to go,” he said. “But when you have a game like this, you get down early and come back against a first-place team, it’s definitely a good feeling.”

He retired the first 14 batters he faced, needed just 32 pitches (26 strikes) to get through four innings and Atlanta looked like it wanted no part of being at Citi Field.

Just as quickly, though, Colon faltered in the seventh.

After giving up his first hit — an infield single with two outs in the fifth to Jace Peterson — and a pair of base runners in the sixth, Colon left the game with the bases loaded in the seventh.

Colon ended up surrendering three runs in 6¹/₃ innings, as Addison Reed allowed all three runners to score in a 6-3 loss.

“I didn’t see many good swings the entire night,” Collins said. “He was outstanding. … Just all of a sudden he gave up some hits. I went to a guy who was pitching brilliantly.”

The same could have been said of Colon, whose status for the postseason hasn’t been determined.

“I haven’t talked to anybody,” Collins said. “We’ve got business to attend to first.”

Lucas Duda has been trying to break out of the funk that has plagued him since he returned from the disabled list on Sept. 7.

Perhaps a double and a pair of walks in a 1-for-2 night was a positive sign for the first baseman, who entered the game in a 6-for-39 slump since returning from a bout of lower-back stiffness.

“He’s trying to get back in a groove a little bit,” Collins said before the game. “With him it’s reps. How many? I don’t have a number in mind. There’s nothing to really gauge it on. He hit early again.

“I hope he begins to catch fire here right now. This next week we’re going into two places that are great hitters’ parks [in Cincinnati and Philadelphia].”

Duda wasn’t the only Met to shake off a slide, as Travis d’Arnaud snapped an 0-for-18 drought with a single to center that sent Duda to third with no one out in the second. He went 2-for-4.

David Wright looked to have a key single when he tied the game in the seventh, but it didn’t stay that way for long.

Nevertheless, Wright continued his effectiveness at the plate since his return from the disabled list. He’s 12-for-34 with five doubles, a home run and six RBIs in his last nine games.

Juan Uribe, who suffered a deep chest bruise while diving for a ground ball on Sunday, was held out of the starting lineup again but came on to get a pinch-hit single to start the ninth.

“Having Juan down has hurt the past couple of days,” Collins said.

Carlos Torres remained out with a left calf strain. He is expected to go through fielding drills to see if he’s healthy enough to cover bases and return Thursday. … Daniel Murphy tied a career-high with his 13th homer of the season.

Yoenis Cespedes went into the game mired in a 4-for-26 slump.

“I don’t want to put it on one guy,” Collins said of Cespedes, who went 1-for-4 with a third-inning triple. “He eased the pressure on the other guys when he was red hot. We have to protect him. He’s been doing it for other guys, so we need to pick him up a little bit.”

The loss completed a 3-6 homestand for the Mets, who have lost six of their past eight games. It might be time to panic except that the Nationals lost for the second night in a row to reduce the Mets' magic number for clinching the NL East to five and maintain their lead at 6 ½ games.

"That's nice," David Wright said of the Nationals' loss. "It's good when your magic number shrinks. But we'd like to play better and have it shrink because we're winning."

The game began as a tour de force for Mets starter Bartolo Colon, who retired the first 14 Braves he faced before giving up an infield single to Jace Peterson in the fifth inning. The Mets had staked Colon to a 2-0 lead on a solo home run by Daniel Murphy and an RBI single by Ruben Tejada.

But Freeman, who was not expected to play, was inserted as a pinch hitter in the seventh and capped a three-run rally with a two-run double for a 3-2 lead. Wright tied it at 3 with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh.

But Familia gave up a one-out infield single and then walked a batter in the ninth before Freeman sent a fastball soaring into the leftfield seats for the 6-3 lead.

"He made good contact," Familia understated. "I was feeling great. I just had a bad day."

It marked the first losing homestand of the season for the Mets, but at least manager Terry Collins still had his sense of humor.

"I heard before the game that Freeman's wrist was bothering him. I didn't think he was going to play. I'm going to have to fire that scout."

Wright exchanged barbs with Freeman as he rounded third base but later said it was all in fun.

"Freddie has been a thorn in our side," Wright said. "I wasn't expecting to see him. He came in and single-handedly beat us. I didn't want to look at him [on the homer]. I was already disgusted."

Colon was the model of efficiency, throwing 75 pitches through 61/3 innings before leaving to a standing ovation from much of the crowd of 28,931. But after giving up just two hits in the first six innings, Colon yielded three singles in the seventh, leaving the bases loaded for reliever Addison Reed.

Michael Bourn drove in the Braves' first run with a single before Freeman's first big hit.

"Colon was tremendous up until the seventh," Collins said. "He was outstanding."

Rather than dwell on the poor homestand, Collins and Wright chose to look forward to a seven-game road trip that begins Thursday night in Cincinnati and then moves to Philadelphia, both of which are considered hitters' parks.

"We're looking at a situation where we've played real well on the road," Collins said. "Let's see if we can finish it off."

Wright faulted the Mets for not taking full advantage of all the scoring opportunities they had.

"We had chances to tack on runs and let them off the hook," Wright said. "We're not giving our pitchers much room for error."