ATLANTA -- There was no way Julio Teheran was leaving the game after Eric Campbells liner hit his right leg and bounced toward third base in the fourth inning. Teheran was determined to pitch through the pain, especially after the Braves gave him three runs in the first. Chris Johnson hit a three-run double, Teheran overcame the injury scare to pitch seven strong innings and Atlanta beat the New York Mets 3-1 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep. The Braves extended their season-best winning streak to seven games, but perhaps the best news was that Teheran wasnt hurt. Atlanta, which placed catcher Evan Gattis on the 15-day disabled list this week with a bulging disk in his back, couldnt afford another key injury as it battles Washington for the NL East lead. Teheran said his lower right leg was "burning" after he was struck by the liner. "I wanted to stay in the game so bad," Teheran said. With manager Fredi Gonzalez and assistant trainer Jim Lovell watching from behind the mound, Teheran tested the leg with a few throws to the plate and stayed in. Teheran (8-5) gave up four hits and three walks while lowering his ERA to 2.29. "He gave us a great outing," Gonzalez said. "The last two innings, it was a gut check. He got himself in trouble and made some great pitches." Jordan Walden pitched a perfect ninth for his third save as closer Craig Kimbrel received a night off. The Mets have lost four straight and seven of their last eight games and are a season-worst 11 games below .500. They hope to have David Wright is back in the lineup when they open a home series against Texas on Friday night. Wright remained in New York this week to receive treatment for his bruised left rotator cuff. "Obviously we miss Davids bat in the lineup, theres no doubt," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "We competed as good as we can compete." The Braves remain a half-game ahead of Washington. Atlantas winning streak includes a four-game sweep at Philadelphia and its first sweep of the Mets since September 2012 at New York. The seven-game streak is Atlantas longest since 14 straight from July 26-Aug. 7 last season. New York rookie Jacob deGrom (1-5) again battled his season-long control problems in a long first inning. The Braves, helped by two walks from deGrom, loaded the bases with no outs in the first. Atlanta was in danger of wasting the opportunity before Johnson lined the three-run double past Campbell at third base with two outs. After throwing 37 pitches in the first, deGrom didnt walk another batter or allow another run. He gave up three runs on six hits in five innings. "That first inning got me," deGrom said. "I think I was a little amped up, just trying to maybe overthrow it a little bit in the first. To recover from that was good. I wanted to at least get to five (innings)." Eric Young Jr. singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Curtis Grandersons fly ball to left field in the fourth inning. Young reached on another single in the sixth before being picked off first base by Teheran. Teheran gave up a single to Juan Lagares and walked Granderson before striking out Campbell to end the sixth. Lagares had a one-out single off Anthony Vavaro in the eighth. Daniel Murphy hit a sharp grounder toward second base that Tommy La Stella caught while diving toward the bag. While on the ground, La Stella flipped the ball to Andrelton Simmons for the force out at second. La Stella started after leaving Tuesday nights game with a right foot that was bruised when he was hit by a pitch. NOTES: Gonzalez said the team will have a better estimate on a recovery period for Gattis when the success of Tuesdays epidural can be evaluated in about four days. Gonzalez said he has "not even entertained" the thought of Gattis playing left field when he returns to possibly take pressure off his back. ... The first-pitch temperature was 91 degrees, and Braves were allowed to report later than normal and take batting practice in the indoor cage "to let their bodies recharge a little bit." ... Both teams are off Thursday. The Mets open a home series against Texas on Friday night, and the Braves homestand continues with a weekend series against Arizona. Fake Pirates Jerseys .com) - Jimmy Butler made four key free throws down the stretch to lift the Chicago Bulls over the Boston Celtics, 109-102, on Friday. Pittsburgh Pirates Gear . "First, I would like to offer my deepest and sincerest apologies for any harm I have inflicted on University of Missouri defensive lineman, Michael Sam," the statement read. https://www.cheappiratesjerseys.us/ . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match. Wholesale Pirates Jerseys . Span, Danny Espinosa and Adam LaRoche had two hits apiece as Washington won the final two games of the series. The Nationals improved to 3-7 against Atlanta. They increased their division lead over the Braves to 1 1/2 games. Pirates Jerseys China .J. -- The NHL reduced its penalty against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday for signing Ilya Kovalchuk in 2010.TORONTO - It was a gamble and Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis knew it. "If we werent able to get Bozak signed or if Clarkson didnt sign then I wouldve had a lot of cap space with no players," Nonis told the Leaf Report. "So it was definitely a gamble and we weighed that against keeping him and playing him." Ultimately, Nonis and his management team opted to exercise their second compliance buyout on Mikhail Grabovski this past summer, ridding themselves of the enigmatic centreman after five years in Toronto. After much debate, they determined that the cap space freed up by his dismissal was just too enticing to pass up; that the players fit on the roster just wasnt there. The 29-year-old, who returns to the Air Canada Centre as a member of the Washington Capitals on Saturday evening, still had four years remaining on a contract that ate up $5.5 million in cap space annually. "It wasnt a decision we made just overnight," Nonis said. "We thought long and hard about it and decided to roll the dice with the cap space and see if we could relocate it effectively." These were nervous times for Nonis. Though he had just acquired 27-year-old Dave Bolland from the Chicago Blackhawks, he had no guarantees that Tyler Bozak would re-sign in Toronto nor whether David Clarkson, their top free agent target, would take their bait and become a Leaf. "We didnt know when we did it that wed be successful in getting some players signed," Nonis said. Also due to be signed were restricted free agents Jonathan Bernier, Carl Gunnarsson, Nazem Kadri, Mark Fraser and Cody Franson. Cap space, predictably, (with the upper-limit dropping to $64.3 million) was going to be at a premium. "We looked at a number of scenarios, including keeping him," Nonis said of Grabovski, who signed for one year in Washington at $3 million. "I said at the time, I think Grabo, wherever he ends up, was going to have a positive impact. Hes a good player and I believe that. But for us we felt we needed to regain that cap space to make some other moves moving forward." A major part of the equation was also the players fit within the roster. Never coming to grips with the role he was required to play in Toronto last season, Grabovski endured the worst season of his career in 2013. He finished with nine goals and 16 points in 48 games, completely off-kilter in the defensive role head coach Randy Carlyle had pegged him to fill. Afforded similar minutes under Adam Oates in Washington, albeit with a more offensive leaan, Grabovski has already produced seven goals and 19 points this season.dddddddddddd "Again, the notion that there wasnt ice-time available for him or opportunity last year, thats just false," Nonis said of Grabovski, who averaged nearly 16 minutes last season, his lowest as a Leaf. "I think it was more a situation where the fit just wasnt right. And it wasnt his fault. I dont think he ever shortchanged us on effort or being prepared or professionalism or any of those things. There just didnt seem to be a fit. And so to have that much cap space tied up with a player that wasnt fitting with us - it doesnt mean hes not going to fit with other teams, obviously he is - but thats what led to the decision to buy him out." Grabovski made no secret of his disdain for Carlyle and the role he was dealt in his final season as a Leaf. He believed his value came from producing offence - he scored 20 goals three times - and could not comprehend why that opportunity wasnt being afforded him as it had been previously under Ron Wilson. "I think too much is made about the coach being the issue with Grabo," Nonis said. "Look at Grabos ice-time and look at his opportunity and look at his performance and I think Grabo would tell you that he didnt have a great year. Whether it was just because he didnt feel like he was being used correctly or what it might be, but I think its easy to point the finger at the coach and say well its his fault. I dont think thats fair. Theres a lot of things that went into his season last year and I think just saying it was all the coach is unfair." The teams dynamic at centre ice almost dictated the terms for Carlyle. With Kadri making the team out of training camp when the lockout wrapped last January and Bozak already lined up as the teams top centre - the better fit for Phil Kessel in the teams opinion - there was nowhere else to put Grabovski but in the checking role he was assigned. Add Bolland into the mix from Chicago this summer - an ideal candidate to fill the role Grabovski griped under - and the stage was set for change in early July. Nonis, admittedly, could have waited until the summer of 2014 to exercise the buyout - the final year to do so under terms of the new CBA - but risked another poor season in doing so. "From a managers point we looked at it and said Is this the best thing to do for us to rehabilitate him, so to speak, and get him back to playing where we needed him to play or to buy him out and create the cap space. "That was the decision." ' ' '