Mets starter Carlos Carrasco and the bullpen could not hold onto a late lead as New York fell to the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, 6-4, on Tuesday night.
Here are the takeaways…
– The start of the game was delayed an hour and 40 minutes due to inclement weather that did not show up. Despite that, Carrasco was on his game early Tuesday night. After giving up a solo homer to Ozzie Albies in the second inning, Carrasco would set down the vaunted Braves lineup.
That would change in the sixth inning. After a Matt Olson leadoff walk, Austin Riley and Sean Murphy hit back-to-back doubles to score two runs. That would chase Carrasco after five-plus innings. Drew Smith would come in to get the next two batters out, but Marcell Ozuna lined a double to score the tying run.
Carrasco’s final line: 5+ IP, six hits, four runs, two walks and four strikeouts.
Smith would throw a wild pitch, allowing Ozuna to go to third, which was followed by an Orlando Arcia infield single to give the Braves the 5-4 lead.
– Braves starter Bryce Elder dominated the Mets for the first two innings, but New York’s offense would come to life with a pair of two-run homers in the third. Francisco Lindor launched his 11th homer of the season to score Omar Narvaez — returning from the IL — while Pete Alonso hit his MLB-leading 22nd home run after a Jeff McNeil walk to give the Mets a 4-1 lead at the time.
Prior to Tuesday, Lindor was 1-for-19 over his last five games. Alonso was 3-for-19 over his last five games. The shortstop finished 1-for-3 with a walk and Alonso went 1-for-4 with his second straight game with a homer.
– McNeil had an eventful evening in left field on Tuesday night. In the sixth inning, he allowed Sean Murphy to get to second after throwing the ball in to third when he didn’t have a chance to get the runner, and in the eighth he bobbled the ball twice allowing Eddie Rosario to get to third on the error. The run would score on a groundball to give the Braves a 6-4 lead.
Jeff Brigham pitched a clean seventh inning but Adam Ottavino was the pitcher on the mound when the Braves scored their sixth run.
– Alonso, after narrowly hitting his second homer of the game, struck out to lead off the ninth. Daniel Vogelbach and Starling Marte grounded out to end the contest and send the Mets to their fourth straight loss.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets continue their three-game series against the Braves on Wednesday at 7:20 pm
Max Scherzer (5-2, 3.21 ERA) will be on the mound for the Mets and he’ll go up against RHP Charlie Morton (5-6, 3.62 ERA).