Acuña homers and Schwellenbach goes 7 innings as Braves beat skidding Mets again

NEW YORK (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. homered, Spencer Schwellenbach pitched seven strong innings and the Atlanta Braves held off the New York Mets 3-2 on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series.

Michael Harris II and Sean Murphy each had an early sacrifice fly for the Braves, who beat starter Paul Blackburn (0-2) for the second time in six days and improved to 4-0 against the Mets this season.

Juan Soto hit a two-run homer that pulled the Mets within one, but he struck out against left-hander Dylan Lee with runners at the corners to end the eighth.

New York has dropped nine of 10, including a three-game sweep by its NL East rival in Atlanta last week.

Schwellenbach (6-4) allowed consecutive singles in the third for New York’s first two hits. The scoring threat ended when third baseman Austin Riley made a diving catch of Brandon Nimmo’s popup near the tarp in foul territory.

Nimmo walked with two outs in the sixth and Soto drove a sinker into the left-center stands for his 17th homer of the year and eighth in 21 games this month.

Schwellenbach struck out four and completed seven innings for the eighth time in 16 starts. He took over the major league lead in innings pitched with 103 2/3.

Lee retired all four batters he faced for his second career save, snapping Atlanta’s team-record streak of 31 games without one. It was the Braves’ first save since May 16.

Key moment

Lee took over for Raisel Iglesias with two outs in the eighth and needed eight pitches to strike out Soto, falling behind 3-1 in the count before fanning the slugger for the third time in nine career at-bats.

Key stat

Since his season debut on May 23, Acuña is the only qualified batter in the majors with an on-base percentage over .500. He is 40 for 101 with 21 walks.