The division-leading Mets kicked off a three game series in Atlanta by coming from behind to knock off the Braves 4-3, ending a 2-game losing skid.
Starters Charlie Morton and Tylor Megill both pitched scoreless ball through the first four frames. However the third time through the order proved to be Megill’s undoing. In the fifth Ozzie Albies came to the plate for the Braves with two runners on and two out. Albies responded with Earl Weaver’s favorite play, the three run homer to put the Braves in control…temporarily.
Morton continued cruising until the top of the seventh. Dominic Smith led off with a single to right, and Kevin Pillar then drew a walk. James McCann followed with a three run homer of his own, a 400 foot shot to center. That shot tied the score and sent Morton to the showers.
A.J. Minter came on in relief for the Braves, and pinch-hitter Jose Pereza slammed a ground-rule double to left. Minter retired Jeff McNeill, and that brought Franciso Lindor to the plate. Lindor smacked a clutch RBI single to give the Mets the lead at 4-3.
The bullpen once again did their job with Drew Smith, Trevor May and Seth Lugo all pitching scoreless frames. Edwin Diaz came on in the ninth for the Mets and the Braves nearly tied it. Pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza launched a shot to deep right. As the Mets faithful collectively held their breath, the drive missed the foul pole by two or three feet, resulting in a loud foul instead of a game-tying homer. Diaz then retired the side to earn his 17th save, with Smith getting the win and improving his record to 3-1.
The 8 strikeouts in just five innings is nice, but are these the Braves we know? These Braves haven’t hit all year except for Acuna some late heroics from Sandoval and Adrianza so it’s hard to get a feel for how good Megill has done in his two starts against them. Nonetheless, a W is put in the left-most column in the standings and that’s the important part. Diaz threw a flat slider and those usually betray him but in this game he got away with it.
Gut Reaction: The tale of the Veteran and the Rookie and the pitch that they wanted to take back. Megill has pitched surprisingly well considering that he started at AA this season. It was a clutch homerun by McCann who has turned his season around with a .840 OPS in June. The bullpen was in lock down mode again and is one of the reasons they are in 1st place.
I like Megill. If you remember the first inning he threw after being called up look like he might not get out of that frame. He then settled down and gave us some length. There is a trick that good pitchers learn once they get to the third time around in a batting order and that is to change the sequence of pictures. No one does it better than Jake. Although Morton certainly manages to throw a lot of zeros up there. When our fans complain about us not hitting against another teams top pitchers we have to remember that’s what other teams feel when they are facing Jake, or walker, or even Stroman. It was encouraging seeing McCann come up with a huge hit when we needed it and the same for Lindor. It is only one game, but since we were facing Morton, it was likely we would come away with a loss. We did not. Now if we can get a good game out of Peterson, we can keep making forward progress. It’s not a great division, but we have to be happy that we’re on top.
Love this kind of win. Anyone else biting their nails with Diaz on in the end?
All wins count the same in the standings, but some count more than others. Wins that stop skidding, come right after a tough loss, come in spite of a big disadvantage in starting pitching, and have big late comebacks…these help frame entire seasons.
At this level, mindset is sometimes the component that separates the guys that last from those that don’t. Of course it is early on Megill, but it is hard not to like what we’ve seen, despite the challenges third time through the order. Should both he and Peterson stabilize into reliable back end starters, it will be invaluable to the franchise. Especially Megill, who like deGrom was a lower round pick and not on any of those wonderful prospect “lists”.
Megill is very impressive. Just looks like he knows what he wants to do. I’ve always liked Peterson, but Megill looks far more confident… hoping they both step forward to win games… a winning season requires all sorts of heroics from unlikely sources… the Mets are getting that.