The New York Mets (44-62) fell to the Atlanta Braves (58-47) by a score of 4-2 on Thursday night at Citi Field.
Pitching
The Mets sent Jason Vargas (2-7, 8.23 ERA) to the mound for his 11th start of the season. In his past 10 starts he had not pitched more than five innings. That trend continued in this game as he had another five-inning outing.
Vargas started off on the wrong foot as he gave up a leadoff triple and RBI single right off the bat in the first inning.
He rebounded nicely in the second with a 1-2-3 inning, but then gave up a three-spot in the third inning to put the Mets behind 4-1.
Vargas retired seven of his final nine batters faced to finish his night. In total he struck out seven Braves and gave up six hits, three walks and four runs on 93 pitches in five innings. He lowered his unsightly ERA from 8.36 to 8.23.
Paul Sewald came into the game in the sixth and pitched a perfect inning. He stayed on for one batter in the seventh and was taken out in favor for Jerry Blevins when the switch-hitting Ozzie Albies came up to bat. Blevins retired Albies and then Freddie Freeman to end the seventh.
Blevins stayed on for one batter in the eighth inning before Bobby Wahl made his Mets debut. Wahl retired his two batters faced to end the inning and a successful debut.
Robert Gsellman was called upon to pitch the ninth and tossed a perfect frame. He concluded a very successful night for the Mets’ bullpen that included four perfect innings and four strikeouts.
Offense
The Mets offense faced Braves’ right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (8-7, 3.04 ERA) who struggled in the month of July as he went 2-3 with a 5.72 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. He was able to start August off fresh however, as Mets batters were held to five hits, one walk and two runs over six innings.
After being handed an instant 1-0 deficit in the top of the first, Brandon Nimmo answered back with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to tie things up.
Following the homer, the Mets were held hitless until the fourth inning when Wilmer Flores singled.
The Mets were able to scratch another run off of Foltynewicz in the fifth inning when Jose Reyes doubled and Luis Guillorme drove him in with a pinch-hit RBI single.
That was basically it for the Mets offense as they only managed a single and two walks the rest of the way. Overall they had six hits, two walks and two runs on the night.
On Deck
Jacob deGrom (5-6, 1.82 ERA) will look return his pitching record back to .500 tomorrow as he faces Anibal Sanchez (5-3, 3.00 ERA) and the Braves offense. The game will be televised on SNY and broadcast on 710 WOR with first pitch scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EDT.
