Reynaldo López pitched well in his home debut while Ronald Acuña Jr. had a big day offensively to help the Atlanta Braves to a 6-5 win over the New York Mets.
The Braves offense got off to a fast start in the first inning. Adrian Houser hit Ronald Acuña Jr. with his first pitch. Acuña stole second on the next pitch and then moved to third as Omar Narvaez’s throw down sailed into the outfield. Ozzie Albies then just missed a home run with a deep drive off the bricks in right center to make it 1-0.
Reynaldo López struck out two in a perfect first inning. Pete Alonso doubled off the glove of Austin Riley to start the second, but retired the next three hitters in order, including a strikeout of Jeff McNeil to end the inning. Lopez allowed a single to Harrison Bader to start the third, but Bader was thrown trying to stretch it to a double on a strong throw by Jarred Kelenic.
The Braves added on in a big way in the third. Acuña and Albies led off the inning with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Riley followed with a hit of his own back through the middle to score Acuña to make it 2-0. Matt Olson then roped a single of his own to right to score Albies to push the lead to 3-0.
After a visit to the mound by Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, Marcell Ozuna hit yet another single that scored Riley. Michael Harris followed with a sinking liner to center that Bader was unable to come up to make it six-straight singles to start the inning.
The Braves missed out on a chance to add more. With the infield in, Orlando Arcia broke the string with a grounder to Pete Alonso who threw home in time to get Olson for the first out. Travis d’Arnaud then bounced to Francisco Lindor at short who started the inning-ending double play.
Now with some runs to work with, Lopez went back to work in the fourth. He sandwiched walks to Alonso and DJ Stewart around a strikeout of Brett Baty. McNeil grounded out to end the inning.
Atlanta tacked on another run in the fourth. Acuña walked with one out and then picked up two more stolen bases to move to third. Albies flew out to shallow right for the second out, but Riley came through with a rocket single to center to push the lead to 5-0.
Lopez worked a perfect fifth and then came back out to begin the sixth and allowed a single to Starling Marte, but he was erased as Lindor bounced into a double play. Alonso flew out to end the inning.
It was another solid outing for Lopez who again had to battle the elements. His first start in Chicago came in cold and windy conditions. Tuesday’s was played with a persistent rain falling throughout. Lopez tossed six scoreless innings while allowing three hits and three walks. He struck out six while throwing 94 pitches.
Atlanta tacked on another run against Mets reliever Dedniel Nunez in the sixth on an RBI ground out by Albies.
Aaron Bummer replaced Lopez to start the seventh and allowed a single to Baty to start the inning. However, he came right back and got pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play. McNeil followed with a single, but Bader lined out to Riley at third to end the threat.
Tyler Matzek took over in the eighth and quickly found himself in trouble after Narvaez and Brandon Nimmo began the inning with back-to-back singles. Matzek recovered to strike out Marte and then got Lindor to line out sharply to Kelenic in left. He would not escape though as Alonso took him deep to left center for a three-run shot to cut the lead in half.
The inning continued as Baty reached on a throwing error by Albies. That would end Matzek’s night as Brian Snitker went back to his bullpen for Joe Jimenez. Jimenez quickly jumped ahead of Taylor 0-2, but was unable to put him away. Taylor sent a single through the left side to bring the tying run to the plate. Jimenez would avoid any further damage though as he got McNeil to fly out harmlessly to right to leave the runners stranded.
Raisel Iglesias entered in the ninth and it was an adventure Bader singled to start the inning and then came around to score on a double by Narvaez to cut the lead to 6-4. Iglesias got Nimmo to ground out for the first out. Marte then grounded out to Albies for the second out, but Narvaez scored on the play to cut Atlanta’s lead to 6-5.
Lindor reached on yet another single to put the tying run at first for Alonso. Iglesias fell behind in the count 2-0, but came back to strike him out to end the game.
Acuña finished with two hits, three runs scored and three stolen bases. Albies and Riley also finished with two hits and two RBIs each. Atlanta finished with 11 hits and were 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
With the win, the Braves improve to 7-3 on the season while the Mets fall to 4-7. The series will continue Wednesday. Atlanta hasn’t announced its starter for Wednesday’s game, but it appears that Allen Winans is the most likely candidate. Lefty Jose Quintana will get the start for New York.
