Today's Three Things: Braves SWEEP the Mets behind Spencer Strider quality start
The New York Mets set a season-high in walks tonight, and the Braves cashed quite a few of them in
The Atlanta Braves took down the New York Mets 7-1 in Truist Park on Thursday night to not only secure the sweep but also knocking New York out of sole possession of first place in the NL East.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The 5th and 6th innings.
Atlanta entered the 5th with the game tied at one, but it didn’t stay that way. Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the inning with a walk and, after an Alex Verdugo strikeout, hustled to third on an Austin Riley single to Juan Soto in left. A Matt Olson walk then loaded the bases for Marcell Ozuna.
Unfortunately, there was no repeat of Tuesday night’s heroics to be had here - Ozuna struck out for the 2nd out of the inning. But Drake Baldwin drew a RBI walk and, after Huascar Brazobán came in for Mets starter Clay Holmes, Ozzie Albies drew a four-pitch walk to bring in another run. No hits with runners in scoring position, but still two runs.
The next inning started similarly - Nick Allen singled and then Acuña walked, pushing him to second base. After Alex Verdugo grounded into what functionally ended up being a sacrifice bunt, Austin Riley walked, loading the bases for the 2nd consecutive inning.
Matt Olson un-loaded them, hitting a double into the right field corner that scored three and put the game out of reach for Atlanta. Drake Baldwin later singled Olson home for another run to make it a four-run frame.
Today’s Player of the Game
Give me Spencer Strider.
Fresh off a dominant start against the Rockies last weekend, one in which he had thirteen strikeouts as part of a team-record night, Strider showed that it wasn’t a fluke against an overmatched opponent. Strider struck out eight Mets tonight, allowing just one walk and five hits. He gave up just one extra base hit and was tagged with seven hard-hit balls in his six innings, throwing 97 pitches (66 strikes).
The slider was once again the star of the show, racking up 14 whiffs and another four called strikes. The fastball once again set a new velocity mark, averaging 96.0 mph (0.7 mph over his season high) and touching 98.4. He also seemed to hold the velo better in the late innings, hitting 95.9 in the 6th and 96 in the 5th.
After seeing Juan Soto reach second base in the first frame and allowing Tyrone Taylor to come around to score in the 2nd, Strider got comfortable. Only two batters even reached base for New York off Strider after the 2nd inning.
In his last two starts, Strider’s combined for 21 strikeouts against just one earned run and two walks in twelve innings, picking up wins in both and lowering his season ERA to 3.89.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Capitalizing on opportunities on offense.
A day after going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, Atlanta had three RISP hits tonight, as well as three RBI with two outs. They took advantage of a Mets season-high nine walks, bringing five of those runners around to score.
For not having hit a single homer, it was one of the more complete Braves offensive efforts we’ve seen in a while. Special credit goes to Nick Allen, who now leads the team in walks since Ronald’s return and seemingly gets driven in once a game by Acuña. Despite his pedestrian offensive numbers overall, his elite defense and ability to put the ball into play mean that he’s able to keep the line moving and allow Atlanta to take advantage of Ronald’s insane start to his season.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are flying to Miami for a weekend series against the Marlins. Here are the announced starters for both teams:
Friday: Didier Fuentes (MLB Debut) versus Janson Junk (1-0, 2.78)
Saturday: Grant Holmes (3-6, 3.97) versus Eury Pérez (0-1, 6.43)
Sunday: Bryce Elder (2-3, 4.45) versus Sandy Alcantara (3-8, 6.88)
We’ll have more on Fuentes in tomorrow morning’s deep dive.