The tractor beam resurfaced for Joey Wentz, Erick Fedde was Erick Fedde, Nolan McLean had another good start, and the Braves lost another series opener to the Mets in essentially blowout fashion on Friday night. Also, it rained a bunch late in the game and for some reason the game wasn’t called, letting hitters from both teams pad their stats.
There isn’t really too much to say about this game that you haven’t seen before, especially as it relates to “Erick Fedde and/or another Braves fill-in pitcher gets knocked around and the game is never really in reach.” Joey Wentz came into this game with good overall numbers as a Brave, but left it considerably dinged up. We joked about the tractor beam earlier, i.e., his pitches ending up towards the middle of the plate — and him avoiding this future tech fate is what led to his success with his new/old team. But, tonight was all about the tractor beam, and the Mets didn’t really miss.
Even before that, though, Wentz got in some trouble. A few 50-50 hits, including a hard grounder by backup catcher Hayden Senger, led to New York’s first run. Wentz then issued back-to-back walks to Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto to make it 2-0. The onslaught really started in the third, with Cedric Mullins hitting a triple on a down-the-pipe full count pitch to plate two other Mets that had gotten knocks in the inning. After a few more hits in the fourth, Wentz departed a 5-1 game for Erick Fedde, who… well, let’s just say if we hadn’t seen enough before, we’ve seen enough now, and he’s free to go the way of Carlos Carrasco at this point. Wentz finished with a 3/2 K/BB ratio; Fedde “lasted” (“was forced to pitch”) 4 1/3 innings but posted just a 1/2 K/BB ratio, as he and the defense combined to allow nearly as many hits (11) as outs recorded while he was on the mound (13). An opposite-field homer by Juan Soto that made it 9-2 pretty much ended any real hope the Braves had of a comeback.
Some of Fedde’s pitching came during a downpour. At one point, it was 12-2, well into mercy rule territory, yet play continued with everyone drenched, up until the rain ended. Dylan Dodd was randomly asked to pitch some innings, because why not, why shouldn’t he get soaked as well?
The Braves ended up with what looked like a good offensive day, but it was mostly just garbage time. Ronald Acuña Jr. did take McLean deep for his 15th homer of the season, and the Braves added two more in the eighth (in the rain) as well as three in the ninth (not in rain), but it was mostly just playing out the string. Still, the box score ended up being kind to some Braves, including Jurickson Profar (three hits and a hit-by-pitch, four driven in), Acuña (two hits, two driven in), and even Nacho Alvarez Jr. (two doubles). But, the Wentz-Fedde pairing was much kinder to the Mets in the same box score: every Mets starter had at least one hit, and five had at least three hits apiece, while Brett Baty finished with four. Weirdly, though, it was mostly singles, as Mullins had the only multi-extra-base-hit night for New York.
Also, at one point in this game, the Braves participated in a strike-’em-out, throw-‘em-out double play, because for some reason they sent Jurickson Profar? Yeah, I don’t know.
The series continues tomorrow, as the Braves’ margin for error, which was already realistically nonexistent, is now even narrower. Still, the dream of running the table for the next five weeks or whatever continues, because what else is there in these trying times?
