ATLANTA _ Yoenis Cespedes broke open a tight contest on Saturday afternoon, blasting a grand slam in his first game back from the disabled list to push the Mets to a much-needed 6-1 win over the Braves.
Right-hander Robert Gsellman tossed 62/3 shutout innings, giving the Mets a quality start despite having to survive a pair of first inning errors by shortstop Adrubal Cabrera.
Yet, despite taking a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning, the Mets nearly let it slip away. The Braves cut the lead in half on Brandon Phillips' eighth-inning homer, forcing manager Terry Collins to summon closer Addison Reed for a five-inning save.
Cepedes made sure to provide plenty of breathing room.
With runners on second and third with one out, Braves manager Brian Snitker called for an intentional walk of Michael Conforto to load the bases. That brought up Cespedes, who said before the game that despite his return from a hamstring and quad injury, he might still not be able to run 100 percent.
Cespedes rendered that moot, blasting his fifth career grand slam, off reliever Luke Jackson.
Braves lefty Sean Newcomb allowed just one unearned run in 61/3 innings, an impressive big-league debut. But he was outdone by Gsellman, who has surged since his temporary demotion to the bullpen.
In Gsellman's first seven starts of the season, he posted a 7.27 ERA. But after a pair of relief appearances, he has a 2.16 ERA in his last four starts. With Seth Lugo and Steven Matz returning from injury, Gsellman had been ticketed to return to the bullpen. But now he will instead remain in the starting rotation when with the Mets intending to adopt a six-man alignment.
