Braves split series with Mets after 4-0 loss

Starters Grant Holmes and Griffin Canning engaged in a pitchers’ duel through the first two innings, but an injury — reminiscent of when former Brave Michael Soroka tore his Achilles in 2020 — knocked Canning out of the game in the third inning. It was an unfortunate situation but one that provided ample opportunity for the Braves.

A lot of times, losing a starting pitcher after just eight outs would be detrimental to the team — especially one like the Mets, who had already used 13 pitchers entering the final matchup of the four-game series. But instead, the Braves had no answer for the Mets’ bullpen.

The group kept them off the board for the final 6.1 innings of the game, shutting out the Braves for the first time in over three years.

“Nobody’s happy,” manager Brian Snitker said of the club’s postgame mood. “It’s not good. You’re not happy in something like this. We couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

The Braves did not walk against the Mets and only got into five three-ball counts in 30 at-bats. They struck out 11 times and finished 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

“I don’t know specifics,” Matt Olson said when asked what worked for the Mets’ bullpen. “Just we weren’t hitting the ball hard…we just didn’t have great at-bats tonight.”

Holmes put the Braves in a good position to win the series by allowing only two runs through five innings, but that was enough to bury a team that possesses a streaky offense. The Mets out-hit the Braves 9-3 and had seven of their nine starters earn a knock.

Holmes walked Juan Soto on four pitches to begin the fourth inning, and Pete Alonso followed with a single to put Mets at the corners with nobody out. Soto stayed put on a fly ball off the bat of Jeff McNeil that likely could have scored him but later scored on a sacrifice fly to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

The Braves’ lack of productive at-bats allowed the Mets to stay in the game, and their division-rival continued to tack on runs. They scored another off Holmes using three hits from the top of their lineup in the fifth inning and added two more against reliever Dylan Dodd in the seventh.

Despite the loss, the Braves went 5-2 against the Mets in a 10-day span, a record most teams would sign up for against a division-leading club.

But the Braves are not most teams. Instead, they are a group that currently sits 10 games back in its division and seven games out of the National League’s final Wild Card spot.

“We needed to go 7-0 against them, quite honestly,” Snitker said. “We’re trying to dig out of a hole, and we’re trying to catch people. We’ve gotta win every series we play.”

And that starts on Friday with a 7:15 p.m. first pitch against the Phillies at Truist Park.