ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves survived another near-meltdown by the back end of their bullpen in the ninth after the New York Mets' best reliever gave up five runs in the seventh.
Tyler Flowers drove in a tiebreaking run with an infield hit, and Atlanta scored five runs off Seth Lugo in the seventh and survived a ninth-inning scare in a 6-4 win over New York on Wednesday night.
The first-place Braves (72-50) are 22 games over .500 for the first time since 2013. That made manager Brian Snitker happy with the win "no matter how you get it."
Snitker could overlook the ninth-inning struggles by Mark Melancon, the team's latest closer.
New York scored two runs in the ninth off Melancon. Amed Rosario had four hits, including a run-scoring single off Melancon. Pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme added another run-scoring single before loading the bases.
A lengthy review overturned the on-field call that Guillorme was out at second on Pete Alonso's grounder to Ozzie Albies. Shortstop Johan Camargo dropped the throw from Albies for an error, leaving the bases loaded with one out.
Melancon struck out Wilson Ramos before left-hander Jerry Blevins struck out Michael Conforto for his first save.
J.D. Davis gave New York a 2-1 lead with a two-run single in the seventh, when Steven Matz had his second bloop single to right field.
Matz was removed by Callaway after throwing only 79 pitches and allowing only two hits in six innings. Matz retired 14 consecutive batters before being lifted.
The move backfired when the Braves scored five runs on six singles off Lugo and Luis Avilán in the seventh. All five runs were charged to Lugo (5-3), who recorded only one out.
Inciarte drove in two runs with two hits.
Dallas Keuchel threw six scoreless innings before the Mets' two-run seventh against Sean Newcomb and Chris Martin (1-1).
The start of the game was delayed 1 hour, 12 minutes by rain.
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