Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets (53-45) opened a five-game series against the Atlanta Braves (49-51) with a doubleheader on Monday at Citi Field. The Mets sent Marcus Stroman to the mound for Game 1 and announced Aaron Loup as the opener before Game 2 commenced.
Stroman entered the game coming off one of the best starts of his career. In his previous outing against the Cincinnati Reds, he struck out seven batters and limited the Reds to just one hit and one walk in eight shutout innings.
The 30-year-old right-hander did not replicate the success he had then, but he was able to keep the Mets in the game.
Stroman was efficient in the first inning. He gave up a single to Ozzie Albies, but only needed seven pitches to get through the inning. In the second inning, Stroman again found success and efficiency. He had a 1-2-3 inning in which he only used 11 pitches.
The third inning is where Stroman started to run into some trouble. He gave up a leadoff double to Guillermo Heredia, then his counterpart Kyle Muller pulled off the old bucher-boy play and lined his first career hit to left.
Joc Pederson then lined an RBI double down the right-field line, to put two in scoring position with still no outs. Stroman finally settled down and struck out Albies in a seven-pitch at-bat for his first out of the inning.
The Mets then opted to intentionally walk Freddie Freeman with an open base at first. That move paid off as he was then able to get Austin Riley to ground into an inning-ending double play to limit the damage.
The fourth inning also started out with some trouble for Stroman. He gave up a double, single, and run-scoring forceout to start things off. He was able to rebound from there with back-to-back swinging strikeouts.
Stroman quickly got two outs as the fifth inning started, before being hit a little by the Braves. They recorded back-to-back singles, but Stroman retired Dansby Swanson to end the inning and his night.
Stroman pitched five innings and struck out four Braves. He allowed two runs on eight hits and a walk, but took the loss for his ninth of the season. The traditional starter route did not work out for the Mets in Game 1 with their limited offense.
It was their bullpen that stepped up and helped lead them to victory in Game 2.
Loup was the opener and did exactly what the Mets could have hoped for by retiring the side in order in the first. The Mets only kept Loup in for an inning, but the rest of the bullpen also showed up in big ways throughout the game.
Jeurys Familia ran into some trouble but pitched a scoreless inning, Anthony Banda pitched two scoreless innings, Trevor May had a 1-2-3 inning (and picked up the win) and Seth Lugo pitched his way into and out of trouble in a scoreless inning as well.
Edwin Diaz closed the book on the game as he struck out the side to record his 22nd save of the season. Between Game 1 and Game 2 the bullpen stepped up in a huge way, tossing a combined nine scoreless innings.
The Mets once again have their workhorse, TBA, scheduled to throw on Tuesday night against right-hander Charlie Morton and the Braves.
