Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Ben Sheets (30) celebrates with teammate Tim Hudson after defeating the New York Mets 6-1 in a baseball game, Sunday, July 15, 2012, in Atlanta. Sheets pitched six scoreless innings in his first major league game in two years.ATLANTA – Ben Sheets loved being back in the majors so much that he broke normal custom for starting pitchers and watched the last three innings from Atlanta’s hot dugout instead of the clubhouse.
“I like to do that and I’ve had very good feedback on it,” he said. “You work so hard to get a victory. I ain’t going to leave them out there. They’re battling for me.”
Sheets pitched six scoreless innings in his first game in two years and the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets 6-1 on Sunday for their season-high seventh straight victory.
Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer in a six-run fifth inning, and Sheets (1-0) allowed two hits and one walk with five strikeouts in his first start since July 19, 2010.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Freeman said of his new teammate. “It didn’t look like he took two years off.”