The New York Mets (61-58) fell 5-3 t0 the Atlanta Braves (71-50) to begin this three-game series, and this six-game road trip. Zack Wheeler struggled and the Mets’ late rally faltered as the club lost its second in a row following an eight-game winning streak.
Offense
The Mets hitters faced Max Fried (13-4, 4.11 ERA), who leads the Braves in wins with 14, including tonight. Fried pitched a solid six innings, giving up six hits and one run on 100 pitches.
Jeff McNeil singled to left field, scoring Juan Lagares, and Wheeler moved to second, scoring one run in the second inning with the Braves still leading the Mets 2-1.
Then the Mets offense stayed rather quiet, until the top of the eighth inning. Michael Conforto grounded into a force out against former Met reliever Jerry Blevins, scoring Pete Alonso and cutting the Mets’ deficit to 5-2.
With that, another former Met reliever, Anthony Swarzak, was brought into the game. Lagares singled, bringing Conforto in to score, lessening the Mets deficit to 5-3.
Unfortunately, McNeil left the game in the top of the ninth with a tight left hamstring.
Pitching
Right-handed pitcher Zack Wheeler (9-6, 4.20 ERA) got the start looking to help the Mets stay hot, but instead he struggled. Wheeler allowed a career-high 12 hits tonight on 91 pitches, permitting five runs in five innings.
Reliever Brad Brach pitched a perfect bottom of the sixth, quickly moving up the bullpen hierarchy especially in the midst of Edwin Diaz‘s unreliability. Luis Avilan replaced Brach briefly for two outs until Jerurys Familia entered the game to finish the job.
Drew Gagnon entered the game in the eighth inning, tossing a perfect inning, but the Mets could not get past Mark Melancon in the bottom of the ninth.
On Deck
The Mets and the Braves face off for game two of this three-game weekday series at Suntrust Park in Atlanta. Long Island native Steven Matz (7-7, 4.49 ERA) will be taking the hill against lefty Dallas Keuchel (3-5, 4.83 ERA).
The game will begin at 7:20 PM EST and it will be televised on SNY.
