Today's Three Things: Braves lose game two as they give up SIX homers to the Mets
The Atlanta Braves give up nine runs due to the long ball as they drop the series to the Mets
The Atlanta Braves have lost their first series since August 6th as they were defeated by the New York Mets 9-2 in Saturday’s divisional matchup.
Here are Today’s Three Things.
The Turning Point
The top of the seventh.
Dylan Lee entered with the Braves trailing by just one, 3-2. Unfortunately, that did not last long. He walked the leadoff man, Juan Soto, to bring up three-hole hitter Pete Alonso. Alonso then snuck a two-run home run into the Chop House. It was a funky swing that delivered just an exit velocity of 98.8 mph and a launch angle of 44 degrees. However, it counts the same.
The next batter up was Mark Vientos and he delivered the same result. Except this one was a no-doubter to left field to put the Mets up 6-2. The Mets were not done just yet. After a Jeff McNeil pop-out, Starling Marte got all of one to left center field, the Mets’ third home run of the inning.
This put the Mets up five runs, 7-2, and that was enough to ice the game and put the series away.
Today’s Player of the Game
With the Braves giving up nine runs and getting just five hits, this was pretty difficult to pick. We’re going to go with Nacho Alvarez, though.
The Braves’ third baseman delivered the only extra base hit of the night, a double down the left field line off of Mets starter Clay Holmes. Nacho also added a walk, coming off of reliever Gregory Soto. He was just one of two Braves on base multiple times. The other was Matt Olson, who had a single and a walk.
The rookie extended his hitting streak to seven games and is now 11-27 in that span, striking out just three times. His average is up to .261 and is looking more and more comfortable each game, both offensively and defensively.
The Braves will continue to get an extended look at him as an everyday player, as Austin Riley is out for the rest of the season.
What You’ll Be Talking About
On a day when the Braves' offense was incredibly flat, I’m going to go with reliever Tyler Kinley here.
Tonight, the righty went 1.1 scoreless innings on just fourteen pitches, striking out one and allowing no traffic. He came in for starter Cal Quantrill, who was making his first start as a Brave. However, Quantrill had to be lifted from the game in the middle of an at-bat due to cramping in both calves. Kinley entered with a 2-1 count and got the strikeout of Brett Baty to strand a runner on first. He came back on for the sixth, pitching a scoreless inning.
Since being acquired on July 30, the former Rockie has been incredible for the Braves. He has given up just one run in 8.2 innings pitched. Within that span, he has allowed only five hits.
You would think that Kinley is well on his way to earning a roster spot next season, as he has a $5M dollar club option. This will be something to keep an eye on.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves and Mets will wrap up the weekend series tomorrow at 1:35 ET.
Bryce Elder (5-9, 6.29 ERA) gets the ball as the Braves look to salvage the series. He will take on Mets’ southpaw David Peterson (8-5, 3.18 ERA).
The last two games against the Mets clearly show how having weak starting pitchers leads to losses. The Mets had so many hard hit balls off Wentz and Fedde that I was fearful an infielder might have to be carried off on a stretcher. The TV broadcast showed a brief shot of AA and McGuirk hovering over a laptop. I was left wondering if they were discussing potential future upgrades for the rotation or more real estate investments.
I thought Cal was excellent for someone picked up off the waiver wire—he’s already shown he can outperform Cookie or Fedde.
Kinley’s $5M option seems like a no-brainer, but I assumed Yates at $4.5M in 24 was a given too, so yeah relievers ....yeah.....
Could a Rule 5 roster crunch be why Harris hasn’t been called up? Adding him to the 40-man might mean losing someone the team really wants to protect. I know it’s probably more complicated than that, but it’s hard to see why Harris isn’t at least up, and the same goes for Lara—bringing him up gradually could help him get used to where he’ll be soon.