ATLANTA _ Yoenis Cespedes' slump hasn't stopped him in the clutch.
The outfielder laced a go-ahead RBI single in the 12th inning to send the Mets to a 5-3 win over the Braves on Friday night at SunTrust Park. Cespedes laced a two-out single off Josh Ravin to break a 3-all tie as part of his 1-for-5 night that included four strikeouts in his previous four at-bats. He now has three game-winning hits in this stretch.
The Mets' (14-5) bullpen tossed six scoreless innings with reliever Robert Gsellman even scoring the game-winning run after being hit by a pitch to start the inning.
The team has also not yet made a decision regarding whether struggling starter Matt Harvey will make his next start which would be lined up for Wednesday.
Cespedes is currently in a 10-for-55 slump, yet three of those hits have drove in the game-winning run. He blooped in an RBI single in a 6-5 win over Washington on Atlanta 8, and his two-run double against Miami on April 10 proved the difference in an 8-6 win.
The Mets were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position when Cespedes came to the plate with a runner on second and two outs, and he drove the first pitch into right field to score Gsellman. Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI double for an insurance run.
Cespedes' heroics allowed the Mets to secure a game they could have won much earlier were it not for failed base running and poor defense.
The Braves forced Noah Syndergaard to pitch out of the stretch throughout his outing, and he could have left with a lead with some better defense behind him.
Protecting a 3-1 lead in the fourth inning, Syndergaard induced a hard liner to right from Ryan Flaherty that Jay Bruce misplayed into an RBI double. Bruce came in on the ball, and it then sailed over his head and allowed Dansby Swanson to easily score from first.
Mets manager Mickey Callaway opted to start the slumping Bruce over defensive wizard Juan Lagares, who normally starts against lefties. That double, although well-struck, had an 83 percent catch probability according to MLB Statcast.
In the sixth inning with the Mets ahead 3-2, Syndergaard allowed a leadoff hit to Nick Markakis that turned into a double when Asdrubal Cabrera could not handle a throw from Cespedes. Had Cabrera caught the throw, Markakis would have been out.
Markakis then advanced to third with no outs on a wild pitch, and evened the game on Kurt Suzuki's sacrifice fly to left field.
Syndergaard yielded seven hits and struck out six spanning 103 pitches, and limited Atlanta to a 1-for-5 showing with runners in scoring position with the one hit an infield single. He also yielded a solo homer to Ozzie Albies in the first inning.
The righty now owns a 3.29 ERA through his first five starts, and has struck out 39 batters in 271/3 innings. Syndergaard has completed six innings in three outings.
The Mets actually received some solid defense from catcher Tomas Nido with the youngster becoming the first Mets catcher to throw out a runner this year, and he did so twice He erased a leadoff walk with two good throws in the seventh and eighth innings.
The lack of speed cost the Mets an insurance run in the sixth inning, and prevented a possible extended rally during the fourth.
After taking a 2-1 lead in the third with Nido and Amed Rosario providing key hits, Wilmer Flores roped an RBI single to right in the fourth for a 3-1 lead.
Flores, one of the slowest runners on the team, tried to extend his single into a double only to be thrown out by Markakis.
Two innings later, the infielder was tagged out at home to end the inning on an aggressive send by Mets third base coach Glenn Sherlock.
With Flores on first with two outs and the Mets up 3-2, Bruce snapped his 0-for-19 skid with a double to shallow left. Due to the Braves' positioning, Preston Tucker did not get to the ball fast, and Sherlock opted to test Tucker's arm. Tucker fired wide of home, but Suzuki made a fantastic diving tag to get Flores right before he touched the plate.
That run loomed large when the Mets couldn't tag Markakis in the bottom of the inning.
Flores had a chance to break a 3-3 tie in the eighth, but his long drive to left fell just short of the wall. The Mets had a runner at third and one out in the inning, but Todd Frazier, who has been the team's best hitter, popped out to shortstop for the second out.
The Mets later wasted a two-on, no-outs rally in the 11th inning.
