Midday Recap: Carlos Torres rebounds from his 2nd pitch, Jagr on the move

Boston slows down a hot charging Tampa Bay team.  Jaromir Jagr takes his talents down I-95.  And San Francisco and the Cincinnati play a doubleheader of unusual nature.

Howard Simmons | New York Daily News

But the big story this morning is Carlos Torres's 2nd start for the New York Mets.  Torres started by allowing a solo shot by lead-off hitter Andrelton Simmons, but then calmed down to keep the Braves at one run through his 6 innings of work.

The bullpen kept the Braves bats quiet, failing to allow a hit through their three innings of work.  Bobby Parnell, who blew a save in the Mets 2-1 loss on Monday, struck out two as he earned his 19th save of the season.

Ike Davis helped the Mets earn Torres his first win of the season thanks to his double in the 6th inning that scored Daniel Murphy to give the Mets the 2-1 lead, and the force was with John Buck as he brought Marlon Byrd home to widen the gap.  A Juan Lagares sac-fly would bring the final score of 4-1.

The Braves scored 1 run on 7 hits, all against Torres.  Torres struck out 6 and walked 2 as the one earned run he allowed boosted his ERA to 0.94.  Ike Davis, who earned boos after his first two at bats, drove in cheers thanks to his go-ahead double in the 6th.

For Braves starting pitcher Kris Medlen, it was his third loss in a row.  Allowing 14 runs in his last three starts, Medlen's spot in the starting rotation is in jeopardy.  He's allowed 24 hits and struck out 13 during this three game span, and in all three games, he had to be replaced prior to the end of an inning.

On-Deck: Jeremy Hefner came back from the All-Star break with a dud in his last start against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Touting one of the best ERA's since the start of June, Hefner got torched for 8 runs on 10 hits as his season's ERA rose 0.60 after the Friday effort.  If Hefner can return to the form he had prior to the All-Star break, the Mets stand a chance of climbing back to within 9 games of the Braves in the NL East.

It hasn't been pretty, but Tim Hudson is a winner of his last three starts.  Allowing 8 runs on 23 hits in the three-game span, Hudson has struck out 13 as the Braves offered him some run support to overcome those deficits.

Game Coverage: 6:30PM on 1230 FOX Sports Radio

Mar-GONE

Jim McIssac | Newsday

The New York Mets begin proceedings to release pitcher Shaun Marcum from their roster.  Yesterday, prior to their game against the Braves, the Mets placed Marcum on waivers with the intent of an unconditional release from their roster.  Marcum was shelved from the lineup a couple weeks ago with a thoratic outlet syndrome that required season-ending surgery.

Marcum went 1-10 this year with a 5.29 ERA, with his lone win being at the Chicago White Sox in June.  Marcum had a season-high 12 strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves on national television, but had consistency issues throughout the season.

ROADBLOCK
The Tampa Bay Rays fail to convert on an opportunity to do what the Los Angeles Dodgers accomplished the previous night.  In their way was the Boston Red Sox, who kept firm control of 1st place in the AL East with their 6-2 win last night in Boston.

Heading into the game, the Rays were winners of 6 straight and 9 of their last 10.  And down 3-2, the Rays had the opportunity to tie the game after Jose Molina doubled with one man out.  However, the Rays were unable to move the runner over, and was stranded at 2nd after Junichi Tazawa got Desmond Jennings to strike out to end the 7th.

The Red Sox would pad their lead with three in the 8th inning, pushing the Rays back to 1 1/2 games behind the Red Sox for the lead in the AL East.

GOING DOWN I-95

USA Today Sports

Jaromir Jagr is heading down the Atlantic.  The Boston Bruin has signed a 1 year contract, worth $2 million, to play for the New Jersey Devils.  The signing replaces the hole that came when Ilya Kovalchuk retired from the NHL to play hockey in Russia.

Last year Jagr scored 16 goals and 19 assists with the Boston Bruins and the Dallas Stars.  Those 16 goals would have led the Devils, and his 35 points would put him one point behind team leader Patrik Elias.

UNUSUAL DOUBLEHEADER
It was an unusual doubleheader for the San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.  In the first game, the Reds prevailed 9-3.  Following the game, both teams changed jerseys, with the Giants wearing the road colors and batting first, and the Reds treated as the home team, despite the game being played at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  In the nightcap, the Giants, as the road team, prevailed 5-3.

The weird doubleheader came about after rain postponed the Giants/Reds game on July 4th in Cincinnati.  After the two teams had a tough time rescheduling the game for its home field in Cincinnati, the two teams came to terms on the doubleheader in San Francisco.