Aug 17, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New York Mets third baseman Brett Baty (22) smiles after a home run in his first career at-bat against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets looked to right the ship on Wednesday in Atlanta after dropping the first two games of the four-game series with the Braves. Despite two bad losses, things were looking up with Max Scherzer on the mound against Jake Odorizzi, and number two prospect Brett Baty in the lineup for his major league debut.

The offense exploded for nine runs, including a two-run home run from Baty in his first career at-bat, and Scherzer was strong despite not having his best control to lead the Mets to a 9-7 win.

After scoring just one run in the first two games of the series, the Mets didn’t waste any time getting the offense going on Wednesday. Starling Marte got the scoring started in the first inning with his 13th home run of the year. One pitch later, Francisco Lindor doubled the lead when he turned on a fastball for his 21st home run. It was the fourth time this season that the Mets hit back-to-back home runs this season with the most recent being Pete Alonso and Daniel Vogelbach on August 4th, also against the Braves.

In the second inning, Baty came to the plate for his first major league at-bat with Mark Canha on second after a leadoff double. Baty took a first-pitch curveball in the dirt then hit a second-pitch curveball over the right field wall for his first career home run to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-0.

While the Mets’ bats were teeing off on Odorizzi to start the night, Scherzer was keeping the Braves’ offense in check. He hit Austin Riley with a pitch in the first inning and allowed a single to William Contreras in the second, but neither runner advanced past first base.

The game went into a rain delay after Vaughn Grissom hit a leadoff single to start the bottom of the third inning. Scherzer stayed in the game after the 34 minute delay, but allowed the first Braves run to come around. After a walk and a ground out moved Grissom to third, Dansby Swanson hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to get the Braves on the board.

That would be the only run the Braves would get. Scherzer struck out Riley looking at a fastball on the corner to end the inning. Brian Snitker was ejected after arguing the call.

Scherzer was not as sharp as he usually is in the early innings, but still found a way to limit the Braves to just the one run in the first three innings. In the fourth inning, he found his groove. He struck out the side in order in the fourth, and retired the side on just nine pitches in the fifth.

The Mets added to their lead again in the sixth inning when Canha hit his second double of the day to score Jeff McNeil from first base. With the Mets’ lead now up to 5-1, the Braves turned to left-hander Tyler Matzek to face Baty. Matzek’s first pitch was smoked the other way by Baty, but Swanson made a terrific backhanded stop on the 113 mph one-hopper and caught Canha between second and third to rob Baty of his second hit and third RBI of the day.

Facing Kirby Yates leading off the seventh inning, Marte hit another home run to centerfield that was nearly identical to his first. His second homer of the night extended the Mets lead to 6-1.

Scherzer had retired 13 batters in a row after striking out Matt Olson to start the seventh inning, but he found trouble after the strike out. He walked Eddie Rosario on four pitches then misplayed a weak dribbler for an infield single. After another four pitch walk to Michael Harris , Scherzer’s day was done.

Adam Ottavino came in for Scherzer and got what looked like an inning-ending double-play from Grissom. After review, Grissom was called safe at first base to bring in a run, and Robbie Grossman followed with a three-run home run to cut the Mets lead to 6-5. Ottavino walked Ronald Acuna Jr. to put the tying run on base, but he was caught stealing on a perfect throw from James McCann.

After the Mets failed to get McNeil in after his leadoff double in the eighth, the Mets turned to Edwin Diaz in the bottom of the inning with the heart of the Braves’ order due up he made quick work of them. He struck out Swanson, got Riley to fly out and struck out Olson looking. He needed just 10 pitches to get through the inning.

The Mets weren’t able to cash in after a leadoff hit in the eighth, but they didn’t make the same mistake in the ninth. Brandon Nimmo started the inning with a base hit up the middle and moved to third when Grossman misplayed Lindor’s one-out single. After Lindor stole second, Alonso hit a huge two-run single to open the lead up to 8-5.

With two runs in the inning, the Braves went to Freddy Tarnok to make his major league debut in relief. Alonso caught him sleeping and stole his third base of the year on Tarnok’s first pitch. He then scored on a double from Vogelbach to make it a 9-5 lead.

Now leading by four runs, Buck Showalter pulled Diaz for Trevor May looking for the final three outs. Things did not come easy for May, as he allowed three straight one-out hits to bring the tying run up. Despite the scare, May struck out Grossman and got Acuna Jr. to fly out to Marte in right field to close out the win.

Player of the Game: Brett Baty

Aug 17, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New York Mets third baseman Brett Baty (22) hits a home run in his first career at-bat against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Brett Baty’s major league career could not have gotten off to a better start. The 22-year-old third baseman homered on his first swing in the majors. With the two-run shot, Baty became the first Met to hit a home run in his first at-bat since Mike Jacobs in 2005. Baty went 1-4 on the night, but the home run wasn’t his only impressive at-bat. Facing a left-handed pitcher for the first time as a big leaguer, he hit a rocket the other way that Swanson robbed from being another RBI hit. At 113.0 mph, it was the third hardest hit ball by a Met this season, trailing just Alonso and Marte.

Although Baty was called up due to injuries to both Luis Guillorme and Eduardo Escobar, it will be hard for the Mets to send him back to Syracuse if he can continue to hit the ball the way he did on Wednesday night.

On Deck

The Mets will finish their four-game series with the Braves on Thursday night at 7:20 p.m ET. Jacob deGrom (2-0, 1.62 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season for the Mets. Since making his return to the Mets, deGrom has been as dominant as ever. He faced the Braves at Citi Field in his second start, and was perfect through 5 2/3 innings. The Braves have not officially announced a starter, but Max Fried (10-4, 2.60 ERA) is expected to make the start. Fried has not pitched since suffering a concussion on August 6 against the Mets at Citi Field.

The game will be broadcast on SNY, and the radio call will be on WCBS 880.