Braves 5, Mets 2—Eleven strikeouts, three solo homers

Oct 1, 2022 - 2:24 AM

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The Braves beat the Mets 5-2 doing what the Braves do best: hitting home runs. They hit three of them off Jacob deGrom. All of them were solo shots—one each from Austin Riley, Matt Olsen, and Dansby Swanson—but it was enough to give them the edge in this contest.

The Mets scored first in this game, scratching out a run off Max Fried in the bottom of the second thanks in part to a rough inning in left field by Eddie Rosario. Jeff McNeil led off the inning with a bloop single that dropped in front of Rosario because he lost it in the lights. Eduardo Escobar then singled, advancing McNeil to second. In his first major league at-bat, Francisco Álvarez smoked one down the third base line, but it found the glove of Austin Riley, who turned a double play. McNeil advanced to third, however, and Luis Guillorme hit a liner to shallow left field that Rosario dove and missed, scoring McNeil to put the Mets ahead 1-0.

But the Braves turned the tables immediately in the bottom of the frame, with Riley and Olsen hitting back-to-back solo home runs off Jacob deGrom to give the Braves the lead, which they would not relinquish. deGrom and Max Fried each hit their stride with Fried retiring ten straight Mets at one point and deGrom striking out eleven batters in his six innings of work. But Fried was forced to exit the game after just five innings and 71 pitches due to illness. And Dansby Swanson tagged deGrom for one more solo homer before his day was done, giving the Braves a two-run lead after six.

Buck Showalter brought in newly converted reliever Tylor Megill in for the bottom of the seventh and it did not go well. The Braves added two more runs off Megill to take firm control of the game and extend their lead to 5-1. Tomás Nido hit a solo homer off A.J. Minter in the eighth to get the Mets closer, but that was all the Mets could manage against the Braves bullpen. Collin McHugh and Raisel Iglesias each contributed a scoreless inning for the Braves.

Kenley Jansen bent but did not break in the ninth. The Mets loaded the bases against him with one out on a Mark Canha hit by pitch, a Jeff McNeil single, and an Eduardo Escobar walk, but Francisco Álvarez—thrown into the fire by Buck Showalter rather than being pinch hit for in favor of Vogelbach—struck out swinging and Tyler Naquin did the same, as nothing came of the last-ditch effort from the Mets.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Eduardo Escobar, +14.9% WPA
Big Mets loser: Francisco Álvarez, -27.2% WPA
Mets pitchers: -12.4% WPA
Mets hitters: -37.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Luis Guillorme’s RBI single in the second, +9.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Dansby Swanson’s solo homer in the sixth, -11.3% WPA