A 70-minute rain delay later, the Atlanta Braves beat the Mets 5-4
The Atlanta Braves continue their late comebacks as they take BACK the lead in the eighth to beat the New York Mets 5-4.
New York just didn’t want to allow a baseball game to take place on Saturday as the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets had to endure an hour and 10 minute rain delay.
Were it to come to a vote among the Mets’ faithful in attendance, they might have opted to quit right there, given their team’s struggles.
The Braves offense struck early, with back-to-back lead off singles from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Dansby Swanson to set it up. After Freddie Freeman struck out, Josh Donaldson was hit-by-a-pitch to load the bases for Ozzie Albies. Albies then singled to left to plate two runs for the early lead.
The offense wasn’t bothered (at least immediately) after the rain delay, as Acuña had another lead-off single before Swanson doubled to center to send him home.
Julio Teheran has been in a bit of a struggling phase and it continued on Saturday, getting into a bases loaded situation in each of the first two innings. He managed to get through it but it took 50 pitches.
For a guy who’s had notorious issues in first inning *and* was coming off consecutive bad starts, hard to overstate how potentially huge that based-loaded escape was for Teheran.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) June 29, 2019
The game then went into the long rain delay. Most of the time, that would point to the starting pitcher to be done for the day; the Mets’ starter, Steven Matz, was a prime example. However, Teheran came back out and ground through another 1.1 innings.
Here is the rest of the breakdown of Saturday’s game:
3. Julio Teheran A Bit Off
Teheran had a couple good moments while pitching Saturday but for the most part was not on his game. As if loading the bases in consecutive innings wasn’t enough, he had to throw 50 pitches to get through those plus wait over an hour before coming back out again.
When the game returned to play, Teheran gave up a two-out home run to Dominic Smith in a seven-pitch at-bat. This cut the Braves lead to 3-1.
Another run in the 4th brought the Mets closer at 3-2, and essentially ended Teheran’s day.
Saturday’s outing came after two bad starts from Teheran, who was actually consistently good prior. His ERA has now risen to 3.99.
The idea was for Teheran to eat some more innings to save the bullpen a bit after the delay, and though he did get through another inning, the Braves eventually had to use five relievers.
There were calls that didn’t go the way either team wanted, however, Teheran also threw some very off the frame pitches. Pitch grip during the rain may have played a factor at times.
Teheran is usually know for “painting” the strike zone and would either get those “pitcher’s pitch” strike calls or get the batters to chase.
His day ended with a 84-pitch count, four strikeouts but three walks.
2. Is It Time The Braves Option Touki Toussaint To Triple A?
So far for 2019, Touki Toussaint has been used mostly as a long-relief pitcher out of the bullpen (he did make one start) and though it started with promise, it hasn’t been lately and for a while.
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Toussaint entered the game after both Teheran and Jerry Blevins on Saturday, getting the 5th and 6th innings, but ended up allowing the Mets to tie the game.
In that 6th innings, he allowed a lead-off single to Amed Rosario before getting Adeiny Hechavarria to fly out. Following that, he allowed Rosario to advance on a wild pitch before allowing a RBI double to Jeff McNeil.
He managed to strike out Pete Alonso before being replaced with Sean Newcomb. Newcomb allowed single to Robinson Canó, which scored the tying run that was charged to Toussaint.
Toussaint has been having a lot of control issues in 2019, with lots of wild pitches and HIBPs during his outings. He and Newcomb are starters that the Braves have tried to used as relievers out the ‘pen mostly as long-relief guys. Newcomb has found good success in that role while Toussaint has pitched to a 4.86 ERA.
In his last 28 days prior to Saturday, (ten games/12.1 innings), he had an ERA of 5.84, a 4.76 ERA in last 14 days (5.2 innings), but had brought it down to 3.38 ERA over his last two games.
If he were to be optioned, that could open the door for another Braves pitching prospect to come up and fill the role such as Kyle Wright or Kolby Allard, Bryse Wilson could also head in that direction if needed. The Braves could also decide to finally play the Adam Duvall card.
1. Freeman Went Cold Offensively And A Bit Defensively
Freddie Freeman is currently no doubt the best player on the roster, leading the team in batting average, home runs, RBIs, walks and doubles. However, Saturday was one of those nights where he just couldn’t nab a hit, going 0-5 while also striking out three times!
Two were swinging K’s while one of those was a looking strikeout but the third strike called was actually a bad call outside the zone.
Then in the ninth, Freeman committed an error when Rosario lined one to the first baseman and Freeman couldn’t come up with it.
Freeman rarely goes multiple days without a hit, if not ever, so expect him to rebound on Sunday. Tyler Flowers also went 0-3 during the Braves 13-hit game.
Though Freeman was cold on Saturday, the team stepped up and provided enough offense to get the win.
Acuña Jr. and Swanson combined for six hits while the Braves took back the lead with back-to-back home runs from Nick Markakis and Austin Riley in the eighth.
It was the Braves’ MLB-leading ninth back-to-back homer situation this season and Riley’s jack was a big one, going 413 feet. It also just shows how anyone in the lineup/roster can provide the hits.
Nick Markakis & @austinriley1308 hit consecutive homers in the 8th inning tonight to give the #Braves 55 home runs in June, tied for the most the club has ever hit in a calendar month. The Braves are now three shy of the major league home run record for a calendar month.#ChopOn pic.twitter.com/uJaycuw7vn
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 30, 2019
Markakis came in after Albies left the game from being hit with a pitch near the elbow. Riley ended the day with two hits while Josh Donaldson, Johan Camargo, Albies and pinch-hitting Charlie Culberson each had a hit. Albies was also reported to be okay after the hit.
What Do The Braves Have To Offer On Trade Market. dark. Next
After the Marlins defeated the Phillies again, the Braves sit with a 6.5 game lead in the NL East. They’ll go for the sweep on Sunday behind Max Fried and going against Noah Syndergaard at 7:00 PM.