Mets rise to the occasion for win over Braves after scary Griffin Canning injury

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mike Puma about the inside buzz on the Mets.The Mets officially began the second half of their 162-game schedule Thursday night, and they did so by once again picking each other up in the face of injury.The depleted pitching staff lost another starter — this time Griffin Canning — to a scary injury in the third inning, but the Mets still managed a split of their four-game series against the Braves with their second straight win following a 1-10 stretch, a crisp 4-0 combined shutout at Citi Field.Four relievers filled the void left by Canning’s departure with a combined for 6 ¹/₃ scoreless frames for the Mets, who will get third baseman Mark Vientos back from the injured list for Friday’s opener of a three-game series in Pittsburgh.Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he was awaiting test results on Canning, but it is believed to be an Achilles injury.Despite dropping 10 of 11 before posting a 7-3 win Wednesday night over Atlanta, the Mets have moved back into first place in the NL East with a 48-34 record, a half-game ahead of the Phillies.At the 81-game midpoint of last season, the middling Mets were 40-41, but they went on to finish with 89 wins before losing to the Dodgers in the NLCS.“Yeah, we got out of the gate and we won a lot of games,” Mendoza said of this year’s club.

“Everything was clicking for us, starting pitching, bullpen, offense, a lot of different guys contributing day in and day out, and then we hit a stretch where it was hard.But it’s part of it, understanding that we still got a long way to go.“We’re just at the halfway point.

We know the competition is real in the National League.There’s a lot of good teams out there, and we want to continue to grind, continue to get better, continue to go out there and find ways to get the job done because at the end of the day, that’s what matters.“But overall,” he added, “I’m very...