Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets (67-38) took down Atlanta (63-43) with a 6-4 win on Thursday evening in Queens. The triumph was a significant one, as the Braves sit just 4.5 games behind New York in the race for the NL East.
Home run balls were deemed the Braves achilles heel as New York knocked four, accounting for five of six runs on the night. Edwin Diaz held it down on the pitching front, securing his first career six-out save. The win marks the Mets’ fifth in eight games played against Atlanta this year, and the weekend will be a true test for the division.
The offense exploded with four homers on Thursday evening, including some clutch bombs from recent team additions. In his first game at Citi Field, Tyler Naquin had a two-homer night with a solo in the second and a solo in the sixth. Pete Alonso (two-run) and Daniel Vogelbach (s0lo) shot back-to-back bombs in the third to give the Mets a 5-0 advantage.
Naquin was the first ever Met to hit multiple home runs in his first home game at Citi Field. The last player in the MLB to do this was Eric Sogard in Tampa Bay in 2019. Vogelbach has also been a standout acquisition for the club — the hitter has reached base in 17 of his 36 plate appearances with the Mets and has four extra-base hits in 28 at-bats.
With his three RBIs on Thursday, Pete Alonso passed John Milner and Carlos Delgado on the Mets’ all-time RBI list. He now has 340 in his Mets career, which ranks 23rd in franchise history. His homer was his 29th of the year, tying him with Austin Riley for fourth in all of baseball.
Carlos Carrasco got the start for New York and allowed three runs on four hits over six innings pitched. Carrasco allowed just two baserunners through four innings via a single and a walk. The right-hander began to struggle in the fifth and cut the Mets 5-0 lead to just two after giving up a pair of singles and a two-run homer to Ronald Acuna Jr. He ended the evening with six strikeouts. Before the three-run inning, Carrasco had accrued a scoreless streak of 22 2/3 innings for the longest of his 13-year career.
Adam Ottavino took the mound in the seventh and allowed one run on two hits, adding a strikeout.
Edwin Diaz capped the night off with two scoreless frames pitched. He struck out three.
Player of the Game
Edwin Diaz earns Thursday’s honor with two shutout innings for his first career six-out save! Diaz has four saves of five outs in his career. He’s now allowed just one run in his last 25 innings.
On Deck
The Mets play game two of four against the Braves on Friday evening at Citi Field.
Taijuan Walker (9-2, 2.79 ERA) will face off against Ian Anderson (9-6, 4.99 ERA).
In his last outing, Walker tossed five 2/3 innings against Miami and allowed three runs on seven hits, recording four strikeouts. Anderson last faced the Diamondbacks and threw six scoreless frames with one hit allowed and nine strikeouts.
Fans can catch the action in Queens at 7:10 p.m. ET on SNY or WCBS 880.
