The offense for the Atlanta Braves came to play once again but this time, they were unable to outslug their opponents. Two home runs and five RBIs from Brandon Nimmo were enough to help push the New York Mets to an 8-7 win on the 50th Anniversary of Henry Aaron’s 715th home run.
Both teams traded scoreless innings for the first couple of innings (which included this nifty strike ’em out/throw ’em out play for the Braves in the first inning) but it wasn’t long before Atlanta got some offense going in this one. After Jarred Kelenic and Ronald Acuña Jr. started off the third inning with walks, Ozzie Albies cashed both of them in with a deep double to make it 2-0 at that point. Two outs later, it was up to Marcell Ozuna to make sure that Ozzie eventually made it home. As it turned out, Ozuna would be joining Ozzie at home plate once he was done, as Ozuna crushed one to the seats in left-center to make it a four-run inning for the Braves.
You could have been excused for thinking that the Braves were going to engage in cruise control once they jumped on Julio Teheran and ran him from the game. Instead, the Mets came alive in the fourth and fifth innings. A leadoff walk and two one-out singles for New York got them on the board in the fourth and then they ended up knotting the game at four runs apiece after Brandon Nimmo got a hold of a changeup from Charlie Morton that was 85 miles per hour and right in the middle of the strike zone. In layman’s terms, it was a meatball and Nimmo crushed it for his first dinger of the season.
Atlanta bounced right back in the sixth inning, though. Orlando Arcia led off the sixth with a single and then Travis d’Arnaud followed that up by hitting a liner out to right field that just about eluded the grasp of Starling Marte’s glove. Arcia was able to motor around the basepaths from first base all the way to home plate in order to put the Braves back in front. Atlanta ruefully ended up going down in order from that point forward and while they were up, they definitely could’ve had more at that point.
The regret was amplified in the very next frame, as Brandon Nimmo got his second hanger of the night to feast upon. This one was may have been 10 miles per hour faster from A.J. Minter but it was still right in the middle of the zone and Nimmo made no mistake with it. The Mets weren’t going away easily in this one and Nimmo in particular wasn’t done yet.
The eighth inning ended up being a consequential one as Pierce Johnson got the first two outs of the inning but fell into some big trouble from that point forward. A wild pitch put Brett Baty into scoring position but it didn’t matter because DJ Stewart crushed one to center to put New York in front for the first time all night. New York followed that up with a single and then who else but Brandon Nimmo would greet Jesse Chavez to the game with an RBI single that made it 8-5 New York. At that point, Nimmo was 4-4 with two home runs and five RBIs and if they gave out little awards for being the player of the game, Nimmo had it sewn up at that point.
It was safe to assume that the Braves weren’t going to take this lying down and they did manage to get something going in the bottom of the eighth. Michael Harris II led off the inning with a walk and then Orlando Arcia hit the first pitch he saw from Drew Smith into left field for a single to get things going. Drew Smith struck out a pair of batters with Harris and Arcia both in scoring position but all that meant was the top of the order was coming up. Both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies battled Drew Smith tooth-and-nail in their respective ABs and both hitters came up with walks — Ozzie’s walk was of the RBI variety and it was 8-6 New York at that point. Sadly, the scoring threat ended with Austin Riley grounding out and this was another moment that could’ve been big for Atlanta but wasn’t.
After Jesse Chavez ended his outing with a scoreless inning in the top of the ninth, the onus was on Atlanta’s lineup to make another comeback. The lineup was up for the challenge, as Matt Olson led off the ninth with a double, Marcell Ozuna just about missed a game-tying home run but Michael Harris II brought Olson home from third to cut the deficit down to just one run. Harris then stole second and just like that, the Braves had the tying run in scoring position with just one out. Orlando Arcia came up and popped out and then Travis d’Arnaud hit a sharp line drive to right field that maybe on a different night would’ve fallen in the gap and sent Truist Park to delirium. Sadly, Starling Marte caught this one and the Braves went down 8-7.
The Braves fought hard in this one but they also left some scoring chances on the table. It also didn’t help matters that Brandon Nimmo decided to save his best performance of the season so far for the series opener in Cobb County. The Braves now have to dust themselves off and bounce back tomorrow night, which is when Reynaldo López will get the nod against Mets starting pitcher Adrian Houser.
