Atlanta Braves: Max Fried, Ronald Acuña shine in win over surging Mets

3. Bullpen Bends But Doesn’t Break

Max Fried completed six innings of work for Atlanta before things were handed over to the bullpen. With how things have transpired recently, Braves fans have begun to hold their breath when the bullpen comes into play.

Fried allowed just 1 run through those 6 innings. The bullpen was responsible for the final two Mets runs.

The main struggle came from recently acquired Shane Greene. He hasn’t had the best time since putting on an Atlanta Braves uniform. Shane has been able to get ahead of opposing hitters but hasn’t quite been able to put them away. Most damage against him has come with a two-strike count.

Greene’s outing began with back-to-back singles from Pete Alonso and J.D. Davis. Alonso was in a 0-2 count while Davis was a 1-2 count. Shane had no issues getting ahead of them but just couldn’t get strike 3.

He was able to get a ground ball from Wilson Ramos but couldn’t get the double play after Charlie Culberson bobbled the ball and was only able to make a flip to second for 1 out. Unfortunately, a run was able to score on this play.

This ended yet another disappointing performance for Shane Greene who has made it known he wants to contribute to this team. Things just have not been going his way at all.

Jerry Blevins replaced Greene as Michael Conforto came to the plate. Brian Snitker wanted to play the lefty-lefty matchup.

Anthony Swarzak would come in after that and allow 2 singles and a second run (charged to Greene) to cross the plate. Luckily, that’s all the damage Swarzak would allow as he induced a ground ball out from newly acquired second baseman, Joe Panik.

The best performances from the bullpen came from Mark Melancon and Luke Jackson.

Jackson came relieved Max Fried in the top of the 7th inning and worked a clean 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts. Luke appeared to be more relaxed on the mound and pitched extremely well. I still wish he’d throw his fastball more often but the slider still worked out on Tuesday.

Most impressively, the Braves had a 1-2-3 top of the 9th inning from Mark Melancon. Brian Snitker noted last week that Melancon would assume the closing duties for now. That’s mostly in part to how Shane Greene has struggled.

It was nice to have a no-stress ending to a game for once. I don’t know how long it’s been since the Braves reliever ended the game that well. Melancon’s experience in that role has definitely served him well.