Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets (76-43) fell 3-2 to the Braves (73-29) on Thursday evening in Atlanta for the club’s first series loss against the NL East this season. Despite a quality outing from Jacob deGrom, New York’s offense could not put together the clutch hits it needed to shut down the opposing pitching staff and lackluster defense and base-running proved to be costly. With the loss, the Braves now sit 3.5 games behind New York in the race for the NL East.
Jacob deGrom got the start for New York and tossed six and 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He struck out nine batters in his longest outing of the season and now owns a 2.31 ERA. Since his comeback from the injured list, deGrom has recorded 37 strikeouts and has walked just one batter in 23 1/3 innings pitched.
Atlanta took a 2-0 lead in the third after deGrom allowed a pair of singles to Robbie Grossman and Austin Riley, and a Dansby Swanson double. New York tied it up in the fifth with a Jeff McNeil leadoff single that set up a two-run homer for Mark Canha.
The Mets’ ace did not allow another baserunner until the seventh when he gave up two-out single to Vaughn Grissom. deGrom was lifted for Seth Lugo to try and mitigate the damage and get the last out of the inning, but Michael Harris II knocked a double to center field and Grissom managed to score all the way from first base for what proved to be the winning run, 3-2.
Mychal Givens entered the game in relief in the eighth and struck out the side to give the Mets a shot for a comeback in the ninth.
Francisco Lindor knocked his first hit of the evening in the top of the finale in hopes of sparking a rally. Unfortunately, the shortstop was called out at second when Pete Alonso flew into a force out, and Lindor couldn’t locate the ball when attempting to run back to first. Devin Marrero, the pinch runner for Alonso, stole second with two outs and kept hopes high. But unable to complete the rally, Jeff McNeil grounded out to the pitcher and ended the evening.
The club went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left four on base.
Player of the Game
Mark Canha earns Thursday’s honor with a 2-for-3 appearance at the plate, including a double and a two-run homer.
On Deck
The Mets will take the road to face the Phillies in a four-game series starting on Friday evening.
Chris Bassitt (10-7, 3.27 ERA) will face off against Aaron Nola (8-9, 3.07 ERA).
In his last outing, Bassitt tossed five scoreless innings against Philadelphia and allowed four hits, with five strikeouts. Nola last faced the Mets and gave up one run, four hits, and struck out eight over eight innings pitched.
Fans can catch the action at 7:05 p.m. ET on SNY or WCBS 880.
