ATLANTA -- The Braves' home opener generated a playoff atmosphere on Tuesday night at Turner Field. With temperatures dipping into the 50s in Georgia, a sellout crowd of 47,144 packed into the ballpark. The Braves honored Hank Aaron before the game. Fans performed the Tomahawk Chop incessantly throughout.
It was amidst this atmosphere that Bartolo Colon shined. The Mets starter flummoxed the Braves over seven innings, taking advantage of their free-swinging ways in a 4-0 victory, Colon's first as a Met.
 
Bartolo Colon dominant, Mets shut out Braves, 4-0
 
Dialing his fastball into the low 90s, Colon struck out the first two batters he faced and five in total. Though he enjoyed just one 1-2-3 inning all night, Colon did not walk a batter, and did not allow more than one baserunner in each of his first six innings.
It was not until the seventh, seemingly, that he even had to sweat. Sitting on a three-run lead, Colon recorded two easy outs before giving up a well-struck single to Andrelton Simmons and an infield hit to Ryan Doumit. That brought many of Turner Field's fans to their feet, until Jason Heyward grounded out to end the inning.
It was like that all night for Colon, who exploited a lineup full of notorious free swingers with well-placed fastballs to each side of the strike zone.
The Mets did not fare much better against former teammate Aaron Harang, who struck out nine over six innings. But they did enough to support Colon, plating their first run on a pair of walks and a wild pitch in the third.
Harang departed after six, and the Mets greeted reliever Gus Schlosser with consecutive hits from Travis d'Arnaud and Ruben Tejada. After a sacrifice bunt from Colon, Eric Young tacked on another run with an RBI single.
Still more insurance came in the eighth, on a replay-aided rally. The Mets successfully challenged a call at first base that would have resulted in the inning's second out, extending the rally long enough for Tejada to hit an RBI single off another former Met, Pedro Beato.
Anthony DiComo / MLB.com
 

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