Ike's bat backs Torres' effort in Mets' victory

NEW YORK -- Ike Davis wouldn't go as far as to say he's corrected his struggles at the plate for good, though this was a scenario he wouldn't have found himself in earlier this season.

Down 1-2 in the count in his sixth-inning at-bat on Tuesday, Davis connected on a curveball that Braves starter Kris Medlen left over the plate, driving it off the right-field wall for a double that drove in the winning run for the Mets.

Behind that double and a strong outing from Carlos Torres that earned him his first win of the year, the Mets cruised to a 4-1 win over the Braves at Citi Field.

It was a big hit for a hitter still searching for consistency. But it was an even bigger hit since it helped secure a victory.

"It definitely felt great to get a hit off a curveball and to get the winning run across the plate," Davis said. "And to drive a ball, I haven't driven a ball in a while."

In his second start of the season, Torres threw 96 pitches over six innings and allowed just one run on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

"I wasn't really that sharp at all today," Torres said. "I got a ton of help from the defense and a couple lucky breaks."

At the start, it looked like Torres was in for a rough night.

On the second pitch of the game, Andrelton Simmons lined a home run into the left-field stands to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Torres then allowed a single to Jason Heyward before retiring the next two hitters. After Brian McCann walked, Evan Gattis lined a single to center field.

With Heyward motoring around third base, Juan Lagares fielded the ball and fired a one-hop throw to home plate. The throw came in just a few feet up the third-base line, but Mets catcher John Buck had enough time to corral it and tag Heyward to get the out and keep the Braves from building their lead.

From that point on, Torres continued to work in and out of trouble. The Braves were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position while Torres was in the game.

With a runner on second base with two outs in the third, Torres struck out Gattis on a high fastball. With runners at first and second with two outs in the fourth, Torres struck out Heyward on a cutter in the dirt.

"As long as the team gets a win, I'm happy. My teammates did a tremendous job today getting guys out, getting the balls. And the wind played a factor in a couple of those foul-ball home runs," Torres said. "Sometimes you get a little lucky the ball bounces over for a ground-rule double instead of scoring a run. I'll take the lucky times, too."

Mets manager Terry Collins said Torres' slow start and the jams he encountered throughout the night were likely a result of not pitching since July 13. But Torres got the outs he needed to keep the Braves from putting any more runs on the board.

"He had trouble every inning," Collins said. "It was obvious he was kind of getting used to being out there again. When he had to make pitches, he made pitches."

There was little room for error as Davis and the rest of the Mets' offense didn't warm up against Medlen until the sixth inning.

Daniel Murphy and David Wright hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. After Marlon Byrd grounded into a fielder's choice that put runners at first and third, Davis came up. Hitting just .171 entering the game, he lined a double to right field to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

The next hitter, Buck, drove in Byrd with a single to center, and Davis scored on a sacrifice fly to right field to put the Mets up, 4-1.

"I felt great the first five. I wasn't able to prevent that big inning," Medlen said. "It was an inning of missing my spots and falling behind, which I didn't do the entire game."

He missed his location against Davis, and paid for it.

"I'm just trying to have good at-bats every time," Davis said. "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't."