Atlanta Braves celebrate a new position: 1st place

The game crumbled away late for the Mets as the Braves outlasted their second ace starter.  It’s only the first day, but this ‘first place’ thing has been a long time coming.

The Atlanta Braves defeated the New York Mets and Jacob deGrom tonight by a 7-0 score, thanks to breaking through late – and often – against the Mets bullpen.  What’s more, the Mets now have an injury to their prized #1 starter that could impact them for at least a couple of starts (TBD on his timetable).

But for today, it’s time to raise a banner of celebration in Braves Country.  The rebuild is officially over – long live this new regime.

Playoff-like Tension?

The game was ‘playoff tight’ for five innings, with both sides struggling even to get a hit.

Finally, Ender Inciarte led off the sixth with a double.  Ozzie Albies could not advance him, though Ronald Acuna Jr was able to get him to third base.  From there, Freddie Freeman managed to force a 2 out bloop single into short left center field – away from the shift.  That broke the 0-0 tie.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/991854994252058624

The surprise of the night happened earlier:  Jacob deGrom, sporting a 1.87 ERA, left the game after pitching just 4 innings despite holding the Braves to 2 hits with 6 strikeouts.

That opened the door for the Braves – no telling what might have happened otherwise, but he was clearly on a roll.  But here it is again:  Mets luck with pitchers.  Atlanta was able to capitalize.

Newk Was Enough

The story of the night, though, was the performance of Sean Newcomb.  He was filthy.  7 strong innings, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk and gave up just 2 hits.  Nothing else.  97 pitches, 70 strikes.  He received a game score of 80 – remarkable for “only” 7 innings.

Newcomb also spurred his own rally in the 7th.  With 2 already out, he smacked a Paul Sewald offering off the left field wall – opposite field, no less – for a ringing double.  He just missed a homer.

Just that hit may have unnerved Sewald as the next pitch to Inciarte was deposited over the wall in right center, which suddenly made it a 3-0 game.

Then the wheels fell off completely for the Metropolitans:  a 4 run 8th inning, capped by back-to-back homers from Johan Camargo and Ryan Flaherty.  Daggers.

Even Yoesnis Cespedes – the only Met that seems to be able to hit at all lately – had his own personal disaster:  breaking an expensive necklace on the double he hit early on.

The game was a prime example of what I spoke about on radio today:  that this run is most likely sustainable because it’s not like there’s one or two players carrying this team… it’s all of them.  Different players every night coming through in big ways.

Even tonight, the bullpen did its part as Sam Freeman and Peter Moylan combined to yield 1 hit and no walks for the 2 innings (that’s a better number) of their service.

Breaking Through

Boom.  First place.  Even if they lose that tomorrow, there’s reason to believe that the Braves will not go into a sudden tailspin.  They will be back here.

Plus, look at the Mets:  they started 11-1.  Since then, they have sputtered to 6-9.

The Braves have lost one series all year.  They are not under .500 against any team.  Their run differential is the highest in the NL (pending the Arizona/Dodgers game; Arizona is +43, Atlanta +46).  They have now won 4 straight and 6 of 7.

Let’s celebrate tonight.  Then let’s watch this club of exuberant youths go out and battle again on Thursday.

Next: The Draft and the Strategery

Braves win.  First place in the NL East.