The Mets only managed two hits tonight as they lost to the Braves 1-0 in the second game of today’s doubleheader. Christian Scott had a good outing, and his longest this year, but the Braves pitching behind Chris Sale stifled the Mets offense completely.
Scott came out throwing strikes immediately in the first inning. He gave up a single to Drake Baldwin on the first pitch of the game, a line drive that dropped into left field. However, Scott recovered nicely after that and retired the next three
batters in order.
Then, for awhile, it was a matter of Scott and Sale showing off their skill. Scott excelled at attacking the strike zone, keeping his pitch count low by inducing contact in a way that the defense was able to handle. Sale struck out the first three hitters he saw and shut down the Mets completely until the bottom of the third inning. Carson Benge smacked a line drive into left field for a lead-off single, but when he tried to steal second base, accidental interference was called on Luis Torrens (the hitter), and Benge had to return to first. This was more frustrating when Francisco Lindor grounded into a force out at second to end the inning.
At the top of the fifth, Scott started to have trouble as Ozzie Albies lined a single into center field. Mauricio Dubón grounded into a force out right after and ended up at first himself. Despite striking out the next two batters, Scott needed 26 pitches to get through four batters in the fifth inning, a drastic difference from the first four innings. Despite a ten-pitch at-bat to Taylor, Sale worked relatively quickly in the bottom of the fifth, and the Mets hitters struck out in order.
Scott returned for the sixth inning, but his troubles continued. Jim Jarvis led off with a line drive double that followed the foul line down into right field. Baldwin broke his bat as he whacked a ground ball in the direction of right field. Lindor was able to intercept, but not in time to make a play. Baldwin had a single while Jarvis reached third base. Then, Matt Olson smacked an RBI single under Lindor’s glove to center field that allowed Jarvis to score. Baldwin moved to third. Albies walked to load the bases with two outs. Dubón flied out after that to end the inning, and Scott made it through six innings for the first time this year. The score stood at Braves 1, Mets 0.
At the bottom of the sixth, Eric Wagaman led off by lining a single into center field, only the second hit of the night for the Mets, and the only Mets hit in the sixth inning. A.J. Minter replaced Scott in the seventh inning, and with one out, hit Austin Riley on the arm with a pitch. Riley proceeded to steal second base successfully when Lindor could not get the ball from Torrens in his glove to tag him. Nevertheless, Minter struck out the next two batters to end the top of the inning. Didier Fuentes replaced Sale in the seventh inning, though it did not make much difference for the Mets. Tyrone Taylor overturned a third strike to a fourth ball and walked, but Fuentes struck out the rest of the side. The score remained 1-0.
Cionel Pérez came out for the eighth and worked a 1-2-3 inning, thanks in part to a beautiful diving catch by Benge. Dylan Lee replaced Fuentes for the bottom of the eighth, but the Mets offense still could not get on base. Daniel Duarte replaced Pérez for the ninth inning. With one out, Dubón dropped a line drive into left field for a single. Eli White then dribbled a hit down the third base line for another single. However, Duarte managed to get out of the inning unscathed by striking out Riley and getting Jarvis to fly out. Raisel Iglesias came out to try for the save for the Braves and retired the top of the Mets lineup in order to end the game with the Mets loss: Braves 1, Mets 0.
The Mets will face the Marlins tomorrow at 7:10 PM. Nolan McLean will face off against Eury Pérez in the start of a new series at home.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Christian Scott, +16% WPA
Big Mets loser: Francisco Lindor, -18% WPA
Mets pitchers: +29% WPA
Mets hitters: -75% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Eric Wagaman’s single, +6.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt Olson’s RBI single, -13.9% WPA
