Braves 3 Mets 2 (Truist Park, Atlanta, GA)
Mets record: 59-68
Mets streak: Lost 1
WP - Bryce Elder (10-4)
LP - Tylor Megill (7-7)
SV - Raisel Iglesias (25)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Marcell Ozuna has been red hot this series, and tonight he was 3-for-3 with a home run that provided the difference in a 3-2 Atlanta victory.
Need to Know
Daniel Vogelbach's two run HR in the 6th was the only offense the Mets could muster on the night. It was his 11th homer of the season and his 4th since August 12th.
The bullpen was masterful in picking up Tylor Megill. They pitched three and 1/3 scoreless innings, highlighted by two scoreless from Adam Kolarek. Reed Garrett got three outs in relief and Brooks Raley recorded the final out.
Bryce Elder gave up a run in 5 and 1/3 as Pierce Johnson gave up the homer to Vogelbach to account for that run plus his own. But the Braves bullpen was every good as the Mets' pen beyond that with Joe Jimenez, A.J. Minter, and Rasiel Iglesias pitching a scoreless inning each while dipping in and out of trouble.
Jeff McNeil had two of the Mets' five hits tonight. McNeil has a .366 average and a .945 OPS in his last 18 games.
Turning Point
The turning point came in the 9th inning as the Mets got the first two runners on base down by a run in the 9th off the closer Iglesias. Vogelbach walked, and D.J. Stewart hit a single up the middle to put runners on first and second with Francisco Alvarez up. Alvarez had been coming up huge in spots like this all year.
Not tonight.
Iglesias would get Rafael Ortega to ground to short to end the game.
Three Keys
Tylor was ... okay? I guess?
Tylor Megill's numbers tonight aren't going to wow anyone. He gave up three runs on three hits in 4 and 2/3's innings, striking out five and walking two, with the two HR's to Ozuna and Eddie Rosario the keys. But when you look at his home/road splits this season, they've been stark to say the least.
At home, he has a 5-2 record with a 3.49 ERA in 49 innings. On the road, he has a 2-4 record with an ERA of 8.20 in 37 and 1/3, with a ghastly WHIP of 2.196. With that in mind, three runs in four an 2/3's on three hits against the best team in the N.L. in Atlanta is certainly a step in the right direction, albeit a small one.
At least the Mets had the foresight to draft him:
Adam Kolarek was a good lefty specialist. The three batter minimum rule curtailed his career. So it was quite a shock to see Buck Showalter let him pitch two innings against some of the best righthanded hitters baseball has to offer.
Shockingly, he pitched two scoreless innings while striking out Ronald Acuna Jr. in the process. This game is probably an outlier, but if the Mets had managed to come back and win, Kolarek's effort would have certainly been looked upon as heroic.
He also did this:
Pete Alonso had a chance:
This could have been "Turning Point 1.0", but in the 8th inning, McNeil singled with two outs and stole second with Alonso at the plate. After the Mets have had a bounty of runs recently, they have returned to their ways of stranding runners in scoring position as he grounded out to end the inning.
It was a huge out by Minter to get Alonso, who has been scorching hot lately.
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