NEW YORK -- Not a bad way to bust out of a slump. Ike Davis finally snapped his prolonged funk at the plate with a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets rallied past the Atlanta Braves 4-2 on Sunday night to end an eight-game losing streak at home. Before the game, Davis had a meeting with manager Terry Collins and GM Sandy Alderson, who also spoke to reporters and addressed weeks of speculation about whether the first baseman should be demoted to the minors. Alderson said there was no deadline for such a decision, and hours later Davis delivered his biggest hit of an agonizing season. "They wanted me to have fun again. Smile more, laugh on the field. I know that the fans may hate that, but I wont perform any better by being miserable," Davis said. "And I am now 1 for 1 with the new approach. The meeting today helped." Shaun Marcum struck out a career-high 12 and Lucas Duda homered for the Mets, who stopped Atlantas eight-game winning streak and avoided a three-game sweep. The Braves had won 15 of 18 against New York and five in a row at Citi Field. Pinch-hitter Justin Turner led off the eighth with a single against Cory Gearrin (1-1). David Wright struck out but Duda punched a ground-rule double to left for his third hit, and John Bucks run-scoring single tied it at 2. Pinch-hitter Mike Baxter was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Davis. "The first thing I thought of was, get a hit," Collins said. "I said to the baseball gods that this kid needs a base hit." He got one, pulling a two-run single through the right side for a 4-2 Mets lead. "I went up wanting a sacrifice fly and not to ground into a double play," Davis said. "Hes a nasty pitcher with sinking movement and I wanted to stay through and hit right through the sinker." After the game, the affable Davis cracked a smile when he found a crowd of reporters waiting at his locker. "Im popular," he said, with more than a touch of New York sarcasm. "Greeaaaat." Davis began the night batting .148 with nine RBIs. He finished 2 for 3 with a walk after entering in a 2-for-44 slide that included 19 strikeouts. It was his first hit in his last 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. "Just a sinker. He got under it enough and got it out there," Gearrin said. "Youve got to tip your hat a little bit to those guys. They put the bat on the ball and made something happen." LaTroy Hawkins (1-0) worked a scoreless inning and Bobby Parnell struck out two in the ninth for his seventh save. It was a spirited and heartening win for the Mets heading into their Subway Series against the crosstown-rival New York Yankees beginning Monday night. Marcum, still winless with the Mets, went seven innings for his longest outing in six starts with New York. His only costly mistake came on Dan Ugglas two-run homer in the seventh that put Atlanta ahead 2-1. Duda hit a leadoff shot to right off Julio Teheran in the fourth, giving him nine home runs and 16 RBIs this season. It also extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games. Marcum allowed a leadoff single in the first to Andrelton Simmons, quickly erased on a hard-hit double play, and didnt permit another hit until the sixth. The only baserunner the Braves managed during that stretch came when Uggla was hit by a pitch in the second. After that, Marcum retired 13 straight batters before Simmons reached down and floated a flare over shortstop with two outs in the sixth. Hustling all the way out of the box, Simmons legged it out for a double. He was stranded when Jason Heyward took a called third strike. Relying on an effective slider and changeup to go with his 85 mph fastball, Marcum cooled off the Atlanta bats with finesse. He struck out slumping B.J. Upton looking to end the seventh, surpassing his previous career high of 11 strikeouts set on June 16, 2007, with Toronto against Washington. It was the right-handers fourth career double-digit strikeout game and first since July 20, 2010, with Toronto against Cleveland. "You dont have to light up the radar gun to be successful," Uggla said. "Marcum really knows how to pitch -- every aspect of the word pitching. Hes very patient. He knows his strengths, knows his weaknesses, and he had just unbelievable command. Not just his fastball, but of everything. He knows what he wants to do with every pitch. So he was good tonight, man. He really kept us off balance." Freddie Freeman fanned all four times up for the Braves, who lead the NL by a wide margin with 448 strikeouts. Upton and Heyward each whiffed three times. NOTES: Braves RHP Jordan Walden (shoulder inflammation) threw a bullpen before the game and was expected to start a rehab assignment Monday with Triple-A Gwinnett. ... Mets reliever Scott Atchison (right elbow inflammation) could be ready to come off the disabled list after one more minor league rehab outing, Collins said. Atchison is eligible to return Wednesday. ... The Mets play the AL East-leading Yankees four straight times beginning Monday night, with the first two games at Citi Field and the next two in the Bronx. LHP Jonathon Niese (3-5, 4.80) starts the opener for the Mets against RHP Phil Hughes (2-3, 5.51). ... The Mets donated more than 5,000 tickets to the USO for Military Appreciation Night. Representatives from each branch of the military threw out a first pitch. Daniel Descalso Cubs Jersey .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Mark Grace Cubs Jersey . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. http://www.thecubsteamshop.com/Cubs-Kosuke-Fukudome-Kids-Jersey/ . - Chris Tierney snapped a tie with a power-play goal late in the third period as the London Knights rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Erie Otters 5-3 in Ontario Hockey League action on Wednesday. Ian Happ Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Albert Almora Jr Cubs Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Graham Zusi, Kei Kamara, Claudio Bieler. The list of players Toronto FC had to worry about entering Saturday nights match against Sporting Kansas City was long. Third-year striker Soony Saad wasnt at the top of the list, but he made the difference in Sporting KCs 3-0 victory, which was played in front 21,126 fans -- the largest crowd in Sporting Park history. "To be fair to the guys, all season weve been really competitive in every single game," said Toronto FC coach Ryan Nelsen. "Our past performances havent produced the points we probably really deserve, but tonight was probably the first time we got turned over." Saad, who entered the match with one goal in 22 career MLS matches, tallied in the 21st and 50th minutes. He also set in motion Sporting KCs third goal during the most lopsided loss of the season for TFC (2-9-7). "We were second best today," defender Steven Caldwell said. "We take our defeat like men and we accept it. It was a poor performance. Nothing really went right for us, but were in a building process. We move forward now to a huge game on Wednesday (at Chivas USA)." Both teams dodged narrowly avoided going down a goal in the first 20 minutes. Sporting KC (9-5-6) almost grabbed a lead in the 14th minute when Bielers shot from the top of Torontos penalty box forced goalkeeper Joe Bendik to make a diving save to his right. Four minutes later, Sporting KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen stonewalled Jeremy Brockie then scrambled back to his feet and knocked down another Brockie rocket off the rebound. It was only a matter of time. Saad broke the ice in the 21st minute when Torontos defence failed to pressure him at the top of the penalty box on the left side. A sliver of daylight opened and Saad tucked a laser-like shot inside the lleft post for a 1-0 lead.dddddddddddd "We made mistakes we havent really been making all year," Nelsen said. "Thats down to obviously a good team were playing against. But weve played teams that are just as good and havent made those mistakes." Bendik made a brilliant kick save against Benny Feilhaber in the 32nd minute, which helped keep the Reds within striking distance at halftime. During the 49th minute, Bendik denied Bielers one-on-one opportunity with another superb kick save, but the dam was about to break. Saad hammered home a rebound one minute later to make it 2-0. Zusi, an MLS MVP finalist last season, drew Bendik off his line and blasted a rocket from just inside that box that Torontos goalkeeper had to push wide. Unfortunately for Bendik, the rebound went straight to Saad for an easy put away. Things went from bad to worse for Toronto, which lost Danny Califf to retirement Friday and Darren ODea to a surprise transfer earlier Saturday, in the 56th minute when frustration seemed to boil over. "The second goal was the killer," Nelson said. "I always thought, even at 1-0, we would get our chances if we had 11 men. That second goal kind of hurt and then, obviously, the sending off was the nail in the coffin. It was probably damage limitation from then on." Midfielder Reggie Lambe was ejected for a reckless tackle from behind against Saad effectively ended the Reds comeback hopes having to play the remainder of the match a man down. Sporting KC tacked on its final goal in the 63rd minute. Saad played a ball into the box for Kamara, whose one-time pass went to Feilhaber. Feilhaber unselfishly sent the ball along with the outside of his right foot to Bieler, who tallied his team-high ninth goal of the season with a blast into an empty net. ' ' '