The Atlanta Braves fell behind quickly Thursday and things never really got much better in a 16-4 loss to the New York Mets.
After a 40 minute delay due to rain, the game finally got underway around 1 p.m. ET. Allan Winans retired Brandon Nimmo to start his afternoon, but then walked Starling Marte and quickly found himself in trouble. Francisco Lindor flied out for the second out. Pete Alonso extended the inning by reaching on an infield single off the chest of Austin Riley. Brett Baty then lined an 0-2 pitch into left field for a single to score Marte and give the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Winans struck out Francisco Alvarez to end the inning with no further damage.
Winans walked DJ Stewart to begin the second inning. After Harrison Bader grounded out, Nimmo sent a fly ball out to center that Michael Harris misplayed into a double. Stewart scored on the play to make it 2-0. The Mets added another run as Marte reached on an error by Orlando Arcia at short that scored Nimmo from second to push the deficit to 3-0.
Winans’ struggles continued in the third. Alonso singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a ground out by Baty. He came around to score as Alvarez sent a hanging breaking ball into the left center gap for a double to make it 4-0. Winans again got ahead of McNeil 0-2, but was unable to put him away as he hooked a double just inside the first base bag to score Alvarez. Stewart followed with a two-run shot to right to extend the deficit to 7-0.
While Winans and the Braves defense were struggling, Jose Quintana settled in early retiring nine of the first 10 hitters he faced. Atlanta’s only base runner through the first three innings was a one-out walk by Marcell Ozuna in the second inning.
Winans returned to the mound in the fourth and allowed a one-out single to Lindor, but got Alonso to ground into a 4-3 double play to end the inning.
Atlanta’s first hit of the day came with two outs in the fourth inning as Matt Olson tripled off the bricks in right
However, he was left stranded after Ozuna bounced back to the mound for the final out.
The Braves finally were able to break through against Quintana in the fifth. Adam Duvall led off the inning with a single. After a fly out by Harris, Arcia worked a walk to put runners at first and second. Chadwick Tromp then came through in a big way with a double to right center that scored both runners to make it 7-2. Ronald Acuña Jr. was called out on a pitch that appeared to be outside the zone for the second out. Ozzie Albies then reached on an infield single to put runners at the corners. With Riley at the plate, Quintana uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Tromp to score to get the Braves another run at 7-3.
Winans worked a scoreless fifth and would then give way to Dylan Lee to start the sixth. It wasn’t the start that Winans wanted, but he didn’t get much help from the defense behind him either. He exited after allowing eight hits and seven runs, although only six were earned. He walked two and finished with one strikeout while throwing 82 pitches.
Lee worked a scoreless sixth, but the Braves failed to capitalize on the momentum. Quintana struck out Olson to start the inning, but then allowed a single to Ozuna, who extended his hitting streak to 10-straight games. That would be it for Quintana as Drew Smith came in from the bullpen. Smith struck out Duvall and then got Harris to fly out to left for the third out.
Lee stayed in to start the seventh and things went sideways again. Marte singled to start the inning and then stole second. Lindor reached on an error by Riley at third and Lee walked Alonso on four pitches to load the bases. Lee struck out Baty swinging for the first out. Alvarez then bounced back to the mound, but the ball skipped off Lee’s glove. He recovered in time to get the out at first, but Marte scored on the play to make it 8-3. That opened the flood gates again as McNeil dropped a two-run single to right to push the lead to 10-3.
The Mets added two more runs in the eighth against Tyler Matzek to push their lead to 12-3. Atlanta got one of those runs back in the home half of the inning as Austin Riley doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on an infield single by Duvall.
Luis Guillorme made his season debut with the Braves in the ninth as a pitcher and allowed a grand slam to Tyrone Taylor to round out the scoring.
The Braves finished with 10 hits and were 4-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They had their first two error game of the season and it could have easily been more. Duvall, Albies and Tromp finished with two hits each while Ozuna reached base three times in the game.
With the loss, Atlanta drops to 7-4 on the season and finish their homestand with a 4-2 record. They will now head out on the road for a six-game trip that will take them to Miami and Houston before returning home to face the World Series champion Rangers.
