Mets Fail to Sweep Braves, Lose 5-4 in Walk-Off Fashion

Wednesday night was the final game of the series between the Mets and Braves, with David Peterson on the mound for the Mets and Charlie Morton toeing the slab for the Braves.

Peterson was coming off one of the best starts of his season, and arguably, his career. Wednesday night started off strong for Peterson, but a shaky fifth inning spoiled what was shaping to be another good outing for the southpaw en route to a 5-4 victory for the Braves, who avoided getting swept.

This matchup started quietly in the first inning, with both pitchers sitting the opposing offense down in order. Morton forced Jonathan Villar to fly out and Francisco Lindor and Cameron Maybin to ground out. Peterson responded by sitting Ronald Acuna Jr., Freddie Freeman, and Marcell Ozuna down in the bottom half of the inning, including a strikeout of Acuna for Peterson’s first of the night.

Dominic Smith tried to get the Mets started in the top of the second, leading off with a single to center field. He was followed by a strikeout of James McCann and Jose Peraza grounding into a double play to get the Braves out of the inning.

Peterson continued to roll in the second inning by striking out two in another one-two-three inning. Wednesday night’s game was an early pitcher’s duel. Both Morton and Peterson rolled through the third inning. Morton forced Johneshwy Fargas to ground out before striking out Khalil Lee and Peterson. In the bottom half of the inning, Peterson forced William Contreras to ground out before striking out Guillermo Heredia and Morton for his fourth and fifth strikeouts of the night.

The Mets drew first blood in the fourth inning with a lead-off home run by Villar. Morton then settled down, forcing Lindor to fly out before striking out Maybin and Smith. Morton had five strikeouts through four innings.

Peterson continued to pitch strong in the fourth. He forced Acuna to fly out, gave up a single to Freeman, and forced Ozuna into a double play to end the inning. The Mets went down quietly in the top half of the fifth — McCann struck out to open the inning, followed by a ground out and line out by Peraza and Fargas. Peterson went back out to the mound with a 1-0 lead through four and a half before things began downhill.

The bottom of the fifth began with a ground-out by Ozzie Albies, followed by a one-out double by Austin Riley. Dansby Swanson followed with a ground out and the Braves quickly had two outs. Peterson hit Contreras and give up an RBI single to Heredia to right field that scored Riley and sent Contreras to second to tie the game at 1-1. Morton then collected an RBI single on a line drive to center field that scored Contreras and moved Heredia to third to give the Braves a 2-1 lead.

After a mound visit, Peterson proceeded to walk Acuna on a wild pitch with the bases loaded to score Heredia and move Morton to second. Freeman then followed with a single to center field and moved Morton to third and Acuna to second.

That was all for Peterson as Drew Smith came on with two outs and two on. The Mets also then moved Cameron Maybin from left field to center field and put Jake Hager in left field. Smith forced Ozuna to ground out to get the Mets out of the inning, but not before the Braves took a 3-1 lead heading into the sixth inning.

As we entered the sixth inning, the Mets’ offense stayed quiet as Morton continued to impress. He stuck out Lee, forced Hager to line out, and struck out Villar for a quick frame.

In the bottom of the sixth, Smith struck out Albies and hit Riley. Swanson followed with a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Smith bounced back with a strikeout of Contreras before intentionally walking Heredia to load the bases. After a mound visit, Smith got Sandoval, who was pinch-hitting for Morton, to line out to end the inning unscathed as the game headed to the seventh inning.

After six, the Mets were still down 3-1, but they’d answer back in the seventh with a two-out rally.

A.J. Minter replaced Morton on the mound in the seventh. He started off well by getting two quick outs. Smith reached on a throwing error by Minter and advanced to second on the error. After a mound visit by the Braves, Minter walked McCann. The Braves used another mound visit and then Peraza came up clutch with a double to left field that scored Smith and moved McCann to third.

Peraza’s double would end Minter’s night as the Braves went to their bullpen again and replaced Minter with Luke Jackson. Tomas Nido then hit a two-RBI single on a fly ball to center field that scored McCann and Peraza to give the lead back to the Mets, 4-3 in the seventh. Jackson followed with a strikeout of Lee to end the inning.

Miguel Castro replaced Smith in the seventh. After a lead-off walk to Acuna, Castro got Freeman to fly out and Ozuna to line out. After an injury delay on the field, Castro struck out Albies for the final out of the inning to keep the Mets’ 4-3 lead heading to the eighth. Chris Martin replaced Jackson on the mound for the Braves in the eight. He started the night strong, striking out Hager and forcing Villar and Lindor to ground out to end the inning.

Aaron Loup replaced Miguel Castro on the mound for the Mets in the eighth, and things began to again unravel, as the Braves found their bats and their groove and Loup struggled to find his command. He gave up a double to Riley, followed by a single to Swanson to put runners on first and third with no outs. Contreras then followed with an RBI single and scored Riley to tie the game at 4-4.

Rojas had seen enough. He went to his bullpen and replaced Loup on the mound with Jacob Barnes in hopes to end the damage. Barnes struck out Heredia and McCann tossed out Swanson trying to steal third before Barnes got a clutch strikeout of Ehire Adrianza, keeping the game a tie and stop further damage from being done by the Braves.

Both teams were hoping for ninth-inning heroics, but only one got it.

Will Smith replaced Martin on the mound for the Braves. Smith struck out Maybin, but with a wild pitch, Maybin reached first to avoid the strikeout and the out. Smith then struck out Dominic Smith for the first out of the inning, but it was Maybin continuing to show his speed with a stolen base, his first as a Met. Another wild pitch advanced Maybin to third and quickly the Mets’go-ahead run was on third base with less than two outs.

McCann popped out to third and the Mets were down to their final out with a runner on third. Peraza lined out to third, and the Mets left the go-ahead runner stranded as they headed to the bottom of the ninth with the game tied, 4-4. Barnes came back out for the Mets for his second inning of relief.

On the first pitch of the inning, Acuna hit a walk-off home run to center field to win it for Atlanta, who avoid being swept by the Mets. It was Acuna’s first walk-off home run of his career and the ball carried to center, taking a while to leave the ballpark.

The Mets have an off-day Thursday before opening a three-game series against the Miami Marlins, beginning with a 7:10 pm game on Friday night in Miami.