Duda Powers Mets Past Braves

Lucas Duda's three-run homer in the seventh gave New York the lead, Jonathon Niese pitched seven strong innings for his third straight win and the Mets beat Tim Hudson and the Braves 3-1 on Friday night.

The Braves, who have wrapped up at least a wild-card berth, began the night four games behind the Nationals in the NL East. Atlanta has only five games remaining in the regular season.

Chipper Jones, starting his final regular-season home series before retirement, was 0-for-4 with four groundouts. Jones was honored by the Braves in a pregame ceremony that included former Atlanta manager Bobby Cox and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron. The tribute helped draw a sellout crowd of 51,910.

Niese (13-9) allowed one run on four hits in seven innings for his third straight win.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)