Braves avoid blowing big lead vs. Mets

Reynaldo Lopez tossed six scoreless innings and Ronald Acuna Jr. had two hits, three runs and three stolen bases as the Atlanta Braves held on for a 6-5 win over the visiting New York Mets on Tuesday.

The Mets trailed 6-0 before Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning against Tyler Matzek. New York added two runs in the ninth against Raisel Iglesias and had a runner at first before Iglesias struck out Alonso for his second save.

Lopez (1-0) allowed three hits, with three walks and six strikeouts, for his first win with the Braves since signing with them this past November.

Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley each had two hits and two RBIs for Atlanta, which bounced back from an 8-7 loss in the opener of the four-game series on Monday.

The Mets threatened in the ninth when Harrison Bader hit a leadoff single and scored on Omar Narvaez's double. Narvaez moved to third on Brandon Nimmo's groundout and scored on Starling Marte's groundout. New York outhit the Braves 12-11 but went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

Acuna set the tone in the bottom of the first inning when he was hit by a pitch from Adrian Houser (0-1), stole second base, advanced to third on an errant throw and scored on Albies' double off the right-center-field wall.

The Braves added to their lead with three runs on six straight singles in the third inning. Acuna and Albies singled to begin the frame before Riley, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna followed with RBI singles.

Acuna was at the center of the action again in the fourth inning. After drawing a one-out walk, Acuna stole second and third before scoring on Riley's two-out single to center field.

Houser gave up five runs on eight hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Mets reliever Dedniel Nunez made his major league debut in the sixth inning and was greeted with three straight singles before Travis d'Arnaud scored on Albies' groundout. Nunez retired the next two batters to avoid further damage.