The night began with Zack Wheeler striking out the side in the first inning and that just set the tone for the rest of the night.
Kevin Gausman in his Braves debut was solid early on and got through the first inning with no trouble at all. The second inning was a slightly different story after Gausman hit Todd Frazier with a stray changeup and ended up giving up a run after a double by Jeff McNeil and a groundout by Amed Rosario.
With the Mets leading 1-0 in the second neither team was giving up anything and the pitching battle was something to behold. That was until Gausman ran into more trouble in the bottom of the sixth with the Mets turning in four straight singles to score two more runs while chasing Gausman from the game in the process.
Gausman’s final line doesn’t jump off the page, but it is pretty solid all the way around. Gausman went 5 innings allowing 3 runs while striking out two Mets after a whirlwind week for he and his family.
Wheeler continued to shut down the Braves until giving way to reliever Bobby Wahl in the top of the eighth inning. Wheeler’s line was simply amazing as the Braves had no answer for him. Wheeler posted 7 innings of 3 hit, 9 strikeout baseball as the lowly Mets continue to get great starts from their rotation.
The Braves attempted to get something going in the top of the eighth against Wahl as Dansby Swanson and Adam Duvall hit back-to-back singles to put runners on for Acuna and Albies at the top of the order. The Braves chances of scoring were quickly squashed though after Robert Gsellman entered the game and stoked the flames.
In the final inning Max Fried got some action in what we can only assume was like that of a side session before his scheduled start on Tuesday. Fried had a clean inning in the top half of the ninth which left everything up to the Braves offense which looked so bad all Saturday night long.
Robert Gsellman continued into the bottom of the ninth looking to pick up the save and made quick work with the heart of the Braves order. Atlanta’s offense was poor all night long and as a result they’re not able to beat a pretty sorry Mets squad.
Tomorrow the Braves will look to finish a series win in a game that almost seems like a must win with a rough schedule incoming. Stay tuned.