The New York Mets (75-84) defeated the Atlanta Braves (89-70) by a score of 4-1 on Thursday night at Citi Field.
Pitching
Jason Vargas (7-9, 5.77 ERA) ended his 2018 campaign on a high note as he had his best start of the season. Vargas delivered seven scoreless innings for the Mets and held the Braves to a mere three hits while striking out six.
With this latest start he lowered his ERA from 6.25 to a season-low 5.77. It also gives him a 3.81 ERA in the second half which is a lot cleaner than the unsightly 8.60 ERA from the first half.
Anthony Swarzak relieved Vargas in the eighth inning, but he did not fare well. He gave a leadoff single and then a walk to put two runners on with no outs. Daniel Zamora struck out his only batter of the night and was replaced by Drew Smith. Smith gave up a RBI single before getting out of the inning.
Robert Gsellman came into the game in the ninth inning for the save and converted it with a scoreless frame.
Offense
The Mets offense faced Julio Teheran (9-9, 3.94 ERA) who gave them trouble in his six innings pitched. Brandon Nimmo started the game off with a double, but that did not start a trend for the offense as Teheran retired his next six batters faced.
Kevin Plawecki disrupted Teheran’s groove as he smacked his seventh home run of the season to left field to put the Mets up 1-0 in the third inning.
The Mets couldn’t muster much else against Teheran for the rest of the night as he only gave up two walks to his next 14 batters faced.
The Mets were able to get to the Braves bullpen however, as Devin Mesoraco hit a three-run home run to left center field in the seventh inning to give the Mets a 4-0 lead.
On Deck
The Mets open up their final series of the season as they play the Miami Marlins (62-96) for three games starting tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. EDT. Corey Oswalt (3-3, 6.08 ERA) will make his final start of the season for the Mets and Jose Urena (8-12, 4.07 ERA) will do the same for the Marlins. The game will be broadcast by SNY and 710 WOR.
