Well, the good news heading into this series is that the Atlanta Braves already had the season series in hand after their exploits earlier on in the campaign. Still, the Braves had a chance to at least continue to compound the struggles that New York had been going through as of late.
There would be no such luck for the Braves this time around, as the Mets brought their bats with them down South and spent most of this series bludgeoning Atlanta at the plate. Fortunately, the Braves were able to stop the onslaught and get a small dose of payback in order to end the season series on a winning note but the Mets were still able to take out a little bit of frustration on the Braves during this series. I don’t blame you for skipping to the end on this one but for all of the sickos out there, let’s get into it.
So before this game started, we got an extremely cool moment as this was the night where the team chose to celebrate the 1995 World Series winners. A good chunk of the roster showed up and even Bobby Cox was in the building for the party, which was definitely encouraging to see when you consider his health issues. The legendary Hall-of-Fame trio of Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz each threw out the ceremonial first pitch and the vibes were excellent.
Then the game started and it all went to pot immediately. After a scoreless first inning, the Mets proceeded to have three separate innings where they put up two runs and two separate innings where they plated three runs. Joey Wentz was bound to have a rough night eventually after having such a solid and consistent start to his (second) tenure with the Braves. He ended up getting blown up for six runs over 3.1 innings and then Erick Fedde entered the game and he got rocked as well. Fedde ended up being the one to wear it, as he got 4.1 innings out of the way while getting blasted for 11 hits and six more Mets runs.
New York ended the night with over 20 hits and double-digit runs, while the Braves did most of their damage once the game was completely out of hand in the ninth inning. It was admirable that they didn’t roll over but this was a case of being too little, too late. At least Ronald Acuña Jr. went deep for his first home run since July 18, so that was cool.
Cal Quantrill made the start for the Braves in this one and the main hope here was that he’d somehow harness the energy that he had when he came here back in April and tossed six shutout innings in this very ballpark against the Braves. Quantrill wasn’t horrible in this one, as he went nearly five innings and gave up three runs — again, not great but not horrible either. He gave up a homer to Jeff McNeil while he was out there and unfortunately, that would be a trend for a couple of Braves relievers who entered the game once Quantrill was done.
Dylan Lee had a nightmare in the fifth inning, as he went walk-homer-homer-pop out-homer for the first four batters he faced. Snitker took him out in favor of Aaron Bummer, who pitched 1.1 innings and went on the IL due to shoulder inflammation, which is something you never want to see. Austin Cox got the ball for the ninth inning and he got lit up for a pair of homers as well, as the Mets ended up with nine runs on the night as Jeff McNeil and Mark Vientos padded their home run tally for the night. Meanwhile, the Braves picked up their two runs of the night in the fourth inning, as productive outs from Marcell Ozuna and Drake Baldwin made it a 3-2 game, which was as close as the Braves got in this one.
After slugging their way to a series victory, it would’ve been understandable if the Mets were chomping at the bit to face Bryce Elder. After all, they had just gotten done putting up 21 runs over the first two games of this series and Elder went into this game with an 18.4 percent HR/FB rate, which is the second-highest rate in all of baseball for pitchers who have thrown at least 110 innings this season. Now granted, Elder did throw one of his patented hangers right down the middle for Mark Vientos to feast upon in the third inning but that was all they could muster up against the enigmatic Elder. Elder finished with six innings and just three hits allowed, which qualifies as a lovely start for him.
Meanwhile, David Peterson kept the Braves quiet until the sixth inning, which is when Atlanta’s offense finally showed some life with two outs in the frame. Michael Harris II got the rally going with a single, Nacho Alvarez Jr. joined him on base with a walk and then Sean Murphy delivered the game-tying RBI single that made it a brand new ballgame with just three innings left to play.
That eventually set up the Braves for another one of those eighth-inning rallies at home that they seemingly enjoy so much. Ozzie Albies led off the penultimate inning with a single and after Sean Murphy walked with two outs, Jurickson Profar (this week’s winner of our prestigious Battery Power Player of the Week award) delivered a big hit on a bloop that he probably had no business swinging at to begin with. He made contact, blooped it out into center, the ball got away from Cedric Mullins and that gave Atlanta’s baserunners enough time to score two runs and put the Braves in front for the first time in the entire series. Raisel Iglesias gave up a run in the ninth but the two-run lead ended up being crucial, as the Braves held on to salvage the series with a win.
Well folks, some things do change eventually! The Mets finally got a series win against the Braves, though Atlanta will take the 8-5 series win in a season where there’s been very little to celebrate. We’ll see if that three-game deficit for New York against the Braves ends up being three wins that they badly wish they could’ve had but for now, Atlanta can at least hang their hat on still giving the Mets fits.
As far as the outlook goes for Atlanta, this ended up being a homestand that fizzled out a bit following their series win over the White Sox. They’ll now be leaving town to face the Marlins, Phillies and Cubs before returning home in early-September. They could potentially serve as a speedbump against the Phillies and Cubs but the series against Miami could have lottery implications. The Braves would still have the fourth-highest odds in the lottery if the season ended to day but a series win against the Marlins could see those two teams potentially flip-flop. So there’s your reason to tune in to the next series: You can either root for the Braves to catch up with the Marlins in the division or you can root for them to let the Marlins have the current glory in sacrifice for the future. That’s all I got, y’all.
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