Braves continue their domination of Mets

The Braves offense didn’t take advantage of Frankie Montas, who was making his first start of the season and coming off a six start stretch on the farm in which he posted a 12.05 ERA. Montas would toss five scoreless in his season debut, helping the Mets bounce out to a three-run lead, thanks to a three-run fourth inning in which Spencer Strider was having trouble finding the strike zone.

However, like the Braves have found themselves at several points this season, the Mets are in a stretch where everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Huascar Brazoban entered the game in the sixth to replace Frankie Montas, and all hell broke loose in New York.

Three straight walks gave the Braves offense some life, and an Ozzie Albies sac-fly got Atlanta on the board before they grabbed a lead of their own behind three straight singles. The Braves would then add two more in the eighth, but it’s never easy, and that was the case again Tuesday night.

The Mets began a rally in the final frame. A couple of one-out knocks put runners at second and third, forcing Brian Snitker to turn to Raisel Iglesias for the second night in a row. Iglesias got the second out when Brett Baty looked at a fastball at the bottom of the zone, but a Ronny Mauricio double brought Francisco Lindor to the plate with a chance to tie the game.

However, there would be no more drama. A groundball to Ozzie Albies ended the game, giving the Braves back-to-back wins in the series against the Mets and moving them to 5-0 overall against New York, with all five games taking place over the last week.

The Mets have single-handedly given the Braves life when they needed it most, a trend over the last three decades but especially over the last three seasons. In the last 38 matchups between these two teams, Atlanta has a remarkable 28-10 record.

Tomorrow night, the Braves aim to make that 29-10 and a perfect 6-0 this season, with 20-year-old rookie Didier Fuentes set to take the mound for just the second time in his career against the veteran Clay Holmes.