ATLANTA— Adam LaRoche homered twice and drove in three runs, rookie Tommy Hanson pitched seven innings and the Atlanta Braves won their fifth straight, beating the New York Mets 6-0 on Tuesday night.
The winning streak has likely come a little late for the Braves, who began the day 7½ games behind Philadelphia in the NL East and six games back in the wild-card race.
New York has lost seven of eight.
LaRoche went 4 for 4, including solo homers in the second and the sixth, giving him 25 this season — 12 since he was acquired from the Boston Red Sox on July 31. He had an RBI double in the fourth, and a leadoff double in the eighth.
LaRoche scored four runs and became the first Braves player to have four extra-base hits in a game since doing it himself during his first stint with the team, on Aug. 30, 2006.
Hanson (10-3) had another strong outing, allowing three hits and striking out eight.
This was the second straight scoreless start for the 23-year-old Hanson, who has quickly established himself as one of baseball's top young pitchers. He pitched eight innings at Houston last week, but closer Rafael Soriano squandered it in a 2-1 loss.
Nate McLouth's two-run double off Pat Misch (1-3) finished off a three-run fourth that gave the Braves a 4-0 lead before a sparse crowd at Turner Field.
Omar Infante had three hits for the Braves.
The Mets managed only one hit off Hanson through the first six innings. They finally strung together a couple of hits in the seventh, but Anderson Hernandez grounded out to end the threat.
Hanson didn't allow a runner past second base. Mike Gonzalez and Eric Flaherty finished off the four-hitter, the Braves' ninth shutout of the season.
Misch went five innings, surrendering eight hits and four runs. He walked one and didn't strike out anyone.
NOTES: Hanson had a good night at the plate with three straight sacrifice bunts, each coming after Infante singled. ... Heavy rain washed out batting practice, but the game started on time and there were no more showers. ... The crowd was announced at 25,094, but there appeared to be less than 10,000 people at Turner Field. ... The Mets were shut out for the 11th time.
