NEW YORK --- Johan Santana may be the best pitcher in Baseball, but the New York Mets ace still can't beat the Braves . Through little or no fault of his own.
The Braves scored four unearned runs as soon as Santana left in the seventh inning Monday night, turning a tie game into a rout in an 8-3 series-opening win against the Mets before a stunned crowd at Citi Field. Derek Lowe (5-1) pitched 6u2154 strong innings to win his fourth consecutive start and the Braves improved to 5-1 on an eight-game trip that's gotten them to within 11?2 games of the National League East lead.
They snapped the Mets' seven-game winning streak and kept Santana winless (0-4) in six career starts against them.
"Tonight had nothing to do with Santana --- it was all about Derek," Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "D-Lowe kept us in the game and matched [Santana] pitch for pitch. That's why we went out and got [Lowe]. He was unbelievable."
Santana (4-2) was charged with two unearned runs and seven hits in 6u2153 innings to lower his National League-best ERA to 0.78.
The left-hander is winless against the Braves despite a 2.31 ERA in six starts against them. Atlanta is the only one of the 28 teams he's faced without recording a win.
"I love facing guys like that," said Lowe, whose own reputation as a big-game pitcher was solidified when he earned all three wins in Boston's three series-clinching games during the 2004 postseason.
"Especially Santana. He's going to beat you more than you beat him. But it's fun to pitch in those games, when every pitch could be the game."
Braves manager Bobby Cox's team has won five of six games against Santana since first facing him in 2002 when he was with the Minnesota Twins.
"It was a match as advertised," Cox said after the Braves won their first game at the Mets' new ballpark. "Derek was on top of his game and certainly Santana was, too."
Santana nemesis Matt Diaz went 3-for-4 with two RBI, including two hits against Santana to make him 10-for-18 against the lefty. Diaz's .556 average against him is the second-highest for any player in at least 10 at-bats, behind Cristian Guzman's .571 (8-for-14).
Yunel Escobar added three hits for the Braves (16-16), who can win all three series on this trip with a win in either of the last two games against the Mets.
"We all know we were struggling coming in, so to be 5-1 and have a couple more opportunities is great," Lowe said. "We have our best pitcher [Jair Jurrjens] going tomorrow."
Whether with the Minnesota Twins or the Mets, Santana's results against the Braves have been similar: He usually pitches splendidly and the Braves win.
Lowe allowed two runs and five hits --- the Mets had nothing until the Carlos Beltran's two-out single in the fourth --- to become the latest Brave to thwart Santana.
The Braves scored a run in the first inning on three ground-ball singles and third baseman David Wright's throwing error. After the Mets scored a run on Omir Santos' sacrifice fly in the fifth, the Braves broke it open in the seventh.
Next for Braves
Who: at Mets
When: 7:10 p.m. today
TV; radio: SPSO; 640 AM, 96.1
