Michael Harris II helps Braves squeak past Mets

Michael Harris II drove in the go-ahead run with a seeing-eye double in the seventh inning to send the Atlanta Braves to a 3-2 win over the visiting New York Mets on Thursday.

The victory gave the Braves a 3-1 series win and cut the Mets' lead in the National League East to 3 1/2 games. It is the first time the Mets have lost a series to a division opponent this season.

The winning rally started when Vaughn Grissom, the second-youngest player in the National League (behind Harris), singled off with two outs in the seventh. The hit ended a string of 12 straight batters retired by Mets starter Jacob deGrom.

With deGrom at 95 pitches, Mets manager Buck Showalter called on Seth Lugo. The reliever gave up a well-placed grounder to center from Harris. Grissom, who was running on the pitch, was able to slide home ahead of the relay throw.

Atlanta starter Max Fried (11-4) showed no rust in his first start since Aug. 6, when he was sent to the concussion injured list after hitting his head on the ground. The lefty allowed two runs on four hits and no walks with six strikeouts in seven innings.

Fried's lone mistake was allowing a two-run homer to Mark Canha, who hit a slider on the eighth pitch of the fifth-inning at-bat for his eighth homer of the season.

The Mets went down fighting. James McCann doubled in the eighth but was stranded there when Raisel Iglesias entered and retired Starling Marte. Francisco Lindor led off the ninth with a single off Kenley Jansen, but the Braves closer got the next three outs to earn his 28th save.

deGrom (2-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits and no walks with nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings. It was his first loss to the Braves since June 28, 2019.

The Braves opened the scoring with two runs in the third inning. Dansby Swanson doubled home Robbie Grossman, then scored on Austin Riley's line-drive single to center field.