ATLANTA – The New York Mets took the third game of a four game series against the Atlanta Braves, winning 9-7 Wednesday night.
While the Braves worked their way back into the game after being down 6-1 in the seventh inning, they fell short in the end thanks to the play of Mets right fielder Starling Marte and newcomer Brett Baty who homered in his first MLB game.
Marte led all hitters finishing 3-5 with two home runs.
Braves starting right hand pitcher Jake Odorizzi struggled early in the game as he gave up back-to-back homeruns to Marte and shortstop Francisco Lindor in the first inning.
“I think the two homeruns I gave up in the first inning were horrible misses and deserve to be hit out,” said Ordorizzi when asked about the back-to-back homers. “Those are situations where it’s two runs but you can limit the damage at two and try to get as deep as you can in the game. My thought from that point on was ‘That’s all that get,’ and move forward.”
Odorizzi rebounded after a rain delay in the bottom of the third inning striking out two batters until Tyler Matzek relieved him in the sixth inning.
Braves manager Brian Snitker liked how Ordorizzi responded to adversity and credits the rain delay as a huge factor.
“He changed and noticed something while warming up after the rain delay,” Snitker said. “He was good, stretched the game okay and made it manageable.”
Ordorizzi finished the game with five earned runs, two strikeouts and two walks in five innings pitched, suffering his fifth loss of the season.
While Ordozzi struggled, Mets pitcher Matt Scherzer kept the Braves hitters in check until the seventh inning before being relieved by pitcher Adam Ottavino.
Scherzer finished the game with eight strikeouts, four earned runs and three walks in 6.1 innings pitched. Scherzer picked up his ninth win of the season.
The seventh inning is where the Braves closed the five run gap, scoring four runs in the inning. Shortstop Vaughn Grissom grounded to third (fielder’s choice) bringing in left fielder Eddie Rosario.
On the next at bat, left fielder Robbie Grossman hit a three-run homer to right field making the score 6-5 in the seventh inning.
The Mets added insurance runs in the ninth inning as first baseman Pete Alonso hit an RBI single bringing in two runs. First baseman Daniel Vogelbach doubled to right field, bringing in Alonso for their ninth run of the game.
The Braves added two runs in the ninth on an RBI single from Grissom but fell short of a late comeback.
The Braves will have another chance to win the series tomorrow. Max Fried will take the mound for Atlanta opposite Jacob deGrom at 7:20 p.m. inside Truist Park.