NEW YORK — The New York Mets moved past the Braves for the top NL wild card berth, beating Atlanta 8-4 on Friday night behind J.D. Martinez's grand slam in a seven-run third inning but losing Kodai Senga to another injury in his season debut.
Martinez's ninth slam was the first of three long balls in the third against Charlie Morton (5-6), who also allowed Mark Vientos' two-run homer and Francisco Alvarez's solo drive in front of a frenzied crowd of 34,673 that included fans dressed as Grimace and Spiderman.
''It was fun — it was kind of crazy,'' Martinez said.
New York (55-48) won its fifth straight game and moved a season-high seven games over .500 following its 11th win in 14 games. The Mets had dropped 10 games behind the Braves on June 2 and are 31-13 since.
''Feels great, for sure,'' Vientos said. ''A couple months ago, everybody was down in the dumps. Different picture now. Lot of baseball left. All we can do is pat ourselves on the back real quick and get back to work.''
Atlanta (54-48) has lost six straight games — its longest skid since a six-game losing streak from Sept. 25-30, 2017, the final week of Brian Snitker's first full season as manager.
''It's not fun going through this, I'll tell you that,'' Snitker said.
Senga's injury-delayed season debut was cut short after 5 1/3 innings and 73 pitches when he strained his left calf. After inducing Austin Riley to pop up leading off the sixth, Senga (1-0) pointed toward Pete Alonso and began sprinting off the mound to clear room for the first baseman. The 31-year-old right-hander grabbed his left calf and bounced for a couple steps before falling.
