This game had an eventful first inning that saw the Mets plate five on Bryce Elder and the Braves, and then a valiant-but-doomed comeback attempt over the rest of the game. The main things that stood out to me: Bryce Elder with poor command is a nightmare, and the Braves really needed some homers in this one but couldn’t find ‘em. Will the Phillies gain a game on the Braves by the time I finish this recap? Who knows.
Boy, that first inning, though. The game started with an A.J. Ewing double off Elder.
The ball rolled under the padding in right field, and Ronald Acuña Jr. threw up his hands to signal a ground rule double. Ewing stopped running midway between second and third. For some reason, the Mets challenged the call, and this resulted in something absurd like an eight-minute delay of game… only for the umpires to rule that while the ball was not “lodged,” Ewing would nonetheless be “awarded” second base. Pace of play, am I right?
Anyway, would that that was the only excitement in the first, but alas. A single later scored Ewing, and then a key play happened on a 3-2 Elder pitch to Carson Benge. The pitch was clearly a strike, but Sean Murphy came up throwing and had the runner dead to rights… except that it was ruled a ball and Murphy didn’t challenge, turning a 1-0 deficit and a half-inning break into a 1-0 deficit, runners on first and second, and one out. After a short liner single to load the bases, Elder got a punchout… and then hung a first-pitch slider to Brett Baty, who slammed it for a grand… slam. The Mets actually collected two more hits before Elder finished the frame, but the score remained 5-0.
Then, the Braves mounted a rally of their own against Christian Scott. Unfortunately, their rally didn’t have a homer, so it wasn’t as productive. Drake Baldwin led off with a double, Matt Olson later singled, and Ozzie Albies had a crazy 11-pitch plate appearance that ended with a 3-2 pitch barely clipping his uniform to load the bases. Mauricio Dubon then came through with a seeing-eye bouncer that plated two. Austin Riley ended the rally by watching two of three pitches in the zone (and fouling off the second). Oops.
The Mets continued tearing into Elder and the Braves’ defense. Francisco Lindor, whose small-sample lifetime stats against Elder are murderous, led off the second with a double, and then scored on a two-out bloop. Another single and a walk loaded the bases, but the frame ended at 6-2. Sean Murphy collected a one-out double in the bottom of the inning, but was left stranded. Lindor then tagged Elder for a two-out solo homer in the third, and yeah, that’s kind of how this one was developing for a while.
Christian Scott and the Mets’ gloves had a 1-2-3 third, but Elder and the home team matched that in the fourth, setting up another rally. A one-out single by Riley, a walk by Jim Jarvis, and another seeing-eye single, this time by Drake Baldwin, made it 7-3. Acuña followed with a hard ripped single to left that highlighted something crazy for me: just how deeply everyone plays him in the outfield, as the ball rolled forrr-eeee-veeer before the left fielder got to it. The scored was 7-4, and Olson came to the plate as the tying run. A homer would’ve been great, but Olson struck out on a half-swing on a sweeper that came pretty close to his shoes.
Elder and a double play combined for another 1-2-3 frame in the fifth, meaning that he actually outlasted Scott. It was a pretty awful outing — a 4/3 K/BB ratio with two homers allowed is not what anyone’s looking for. On the flip side, Scott was really good again (6/1 K/BB ratio), but the Braves managed to plate four in four frames against him thanks to the almighty grounder-through-the-infield.
So, it was a battle of the bullpens for the second half of the game, and honestly, it was uneventful. There was a point where it looked like the Braves would just immediately wheel the game around with Scott gone: Jonathan Pintaro came on and was greeted by a Michael Harris II single, and then walked Albies. Unfortunately, Dubon hit into an easy double play, and though Harris scored on a wild pitch, that was all the Braves would get off any member of the Mets’ relief corps.
Brent Suter did his designated Brent Suter work in this one, throwing three frames with a 3/1 K/BB ratio to keep the game close. The Braves, meanwhile, just couldn’t get the homer or other big hit they needed. Olson again came up as the tying run in the sixth after Acuña walked with two outs, but grounded out to first. Harris had an excuse-me swing turn into a roller of a double to start the seventh, but the next three batters all made field outs. In the eighth, it was pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s turn to give the team a glimmer of hope by drawing a one-out walk, but again, no joy without dingers, and there were no dingers. Acuña hit a 100 mph screamer to center that was caught on a dive.
Victor Mederos relieved Suter in the ninth and handed the Mets an eighth run as Lindor singled, and then Mederos walked a guy and hit another. A sac fly capped the scoring. The Braves got eaten up by Kodai Senga, closer-I-guess (since actual closer Devin Williams hit the shelf today with a shoulder strain), as Olson and Harris both struck out, and Dubon had a weak flyout to end the game after Albies walked (again, somehow).
It was a weird game in the box score, as the Braves got nine hits, but only three for extra bases. They also had six walks and the hit-by-pitch(ish), but to little avail. The Phillies just wrapped up their win over the Cardinals, so the division lead is down to 7.5, and the Braves will hope to actually get a big hit that hopefully leaves the yard tomorrow as this series continues.
With the loss, the Braves lose the season series to the Mets for the first time since 2017. It’s the end of an era, sorta. And we thought 2025 was an ignominous season…
